Salsa Lawsuit at the County Jail

Good for the Hispanic inmates who have filed suit (“Inmates Ask Court for Spicier Food,” Aug. 4) against Orange County Jail for failing to provide Mexican food even though a sizable proportion of the inmates are Hispanic.

It is a given that the institution is a jail and not the Orange County Country Club. However, long gone are the days when inmates were provided only bread and water. If you provide “special” food for one group of inmates but arbitrarily deny certain groups their foods, then the jail is denying them “equal protection of the laws”--an act forbidden under the 14th Amendment to our U.S. Constitution.

Depriving anyone of an important aspect of his or her culture is cruel, inhuman and un-American. Clearly, certain foods are an integral part of any culture. Depriving an inmate of his culture--food in this case--is an infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishments are expressly forbidden by the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.

Furthermore, since “the chili pepper is more than a condiment in Mexico, it is a ‘way of life,’ ” it must be afforded special protection in the Southwest. Why? The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed the continuation of the Mexican culture in the Southwest. Denial of Mexican food, part of the Mexican culture, is a violation of the terms of the treaty.

Article 6 of the Constitution states: “All treaties made . . . under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby.” Sounds pretty clear to me.

If Mexican food is such a threat to the deputies in Orange County, then why isn’t it a threat to Mexican deputies in Mexico guarding Mexican inmates? Something isn’t kosher with Orange County’s argument.

Given the recent Hispanic victory over ward elections by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, perhaps the inmates should have brought suit in U.S. District Court. The clear-thinking circuit court judges have a firm grasp of the law and of the history of Americans of Mexican descent in the Southwest.

GEORGE C. BALDERAS

Corona