Westmoreland County prisoner forced to miss hearing for not removing yarmulke

A Westmoreland County prisoner missed a July 14 court hearing when prison officials refused to transport him after he declined to remove his yarmulke, according to defense attorney Tim Andrews.

Andrews said that prison officials initially told either the sheriff’s office or the court that Kort Noel Eckman could not be transported to the hearing because he refused to come.

“That was not the case,” Andrews said. “As has happened a couple of past occasions when I’ve tried to speak with him, I was told by people at the jail they couldn’t bring him to speak with me because he would not take his yarmulke off.”

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According to Andrews, Eckman was brought to court on two other occasions while wearing a kippah, but that prison officials refused to transport him this time because of a “safety concern.”

Andrews said that concern was related to the possibility of concealed contraband. He said he was told there is a policy at the jail addressing yarmulkes, but he hasn’t seen it.

A prison policy handbook was not available online and the Chronicle’s calls to the prison warden and chaplain were not returned.

Westmoreland County does have a dress code for those visiting the jail which addresses head coverings. It states:

“For ‘security reasons,’ no hats, caps or head coverings will be permitted to be worn by any visitor inside the institution. However, visitors wearing ‘head coverings’ for various reasons (whether it be for medical, religious, etc.) may be required to produce documentation to corroborate wearing this head covering within the institution. Visitors that must wear a head covering will be taken to a private area and asked to remove it for a visual security check. If they pass this security check, they will be permitted to replace the head covering and continue on with their visit. Those who refuse to remove this head covering for a security check will be asked to leave the building.”

Neighboring Allegheny County Bureau of Corrections has a policy permitting head coverings worn for religious reasons. It reads, in part:

“Male inmates of the Jewish faith will be permitted to wear the Yarmulke (skull cap) in all areas of the institution, including at mealtimes, pursuant to the requirements of their religion. They can be removed and searched at any time for security reasons.”

Andrews said that Eckman is religiously observant.

“He’s very strict in his following of religious laws,” he said. “He doesn’t like to be brought up on a Friday for fear that he won’t get back in time to observe the Sabbath and things like that.”

Eckman buys all of his food at the commissary, Andrews said, because Westmoreland County doesn’t supply kosher food for inmates.

Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, executive director of the Aleph Institute, Northeast Regional Headquarters — which provides humanitarian and religious support for Jewish inmates in prisons across the northeastern United States, including in Westmoreland County — said many Orthodox Jews feel obliged to wear a kippah.

A kippah comes at neither a significant cost to the state nor at a risk of security, Vogel said.

“I’ve sat on the phone with the security personal asking them to explain to me, what is the security issue?” he said. “You can make the guy pick up the yarmulke. Years ago, they asked me to do that when I went through the gates at Pittsburgh International Airport. It’s the same thing.”

Every court and prison, he said, has metal detectors, and if that isn’t enough, people can be searched.

“Maybe it’s time that the courts revisit” their policies, he offered.

That includes a kosher food option, Vogel said, noting that the increased cost would be minimal based on the millions already spent on food, something that neighboring Ohio already does.

Vogel said the concern, though, is larger than a simple head covering or food choices. It has to do with the role religion can play in a person’s life.

About 98% of prisoners, he noted, ultimately will return to society.

“The question is, do we want them to come back with something like religion to anchor them and help them become productive members of society, or do we want to destroy them emotionally, spiritually?” he asked.

Recidivism, Vogel said, has jumped from 76%, where it sat for decades, to 83% in the last Pew report.

“We’re failing those individuals, we’re failing their families and in the long run, we’re failing society,” he said.
That failure, Vogel said, is the real security issue that ultimately affects all of society. If prisoners return to the outside world as troubled individuals they may eventually violate parole and reoffend.

Eckman was arrested in connection with the Oct. 3, 2023, stabbing of his mother, Rose Eckman. At the time, she told authorities that her son believed she was a Nazi war criminal and that he jumped on her while she was in bed.

In the case of his client, Andrews said, the judge assigned to the case may have temporarily solved the issue.

“Another hearing has been scheduled for next week and the judge has directed him to be brought up whether he has his yarmulke on or not,” Andrews said. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.