PETA Seeks Vegan Diet as Parole Condition for 'Cannibal' Criminal
For Immediate Release:
October 4, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Orange County, Calif. -- Today, PETA fired off a letter to the warden of Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, where former model Omaima Aree Nelson—who was convicted in 1991 of killing her husband and cooking and eating parts of his body—is incarcerated and appealing for parole. The group is requesting that the parole board make a flesh-free, vegan diet a permanent requirement of Nelson's parole, should it be granted. PETA—pointing out that a vegan diet will help ensure that Nelson is no longer contributing to any needless violence and bloodlust—also requests that Nelson be served a vegan diet for the remainder of her sentence, however long that may be.
"Animals who are killed for their flesh experience pain and fear just as humans do," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "If people are revolted by the idea of eating a human corpse, perhaps they should also lose their appetites at the thought of eating anyone's skinned and sautéed body parts."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Warden Lydia Hense follows.
October 4, 2011
Lydia Hense, Warden
Central California Women's
Facility (CCWF)
Dear Ms. Hense:
I'm writing on behalf of PETA's more than 2 million members and supporters worldwide with a suggestion for ensuring that convicted killer and cannibal Omaima Aree Nelson doesn't chop up and eat any more victims if she is released from prison: Require her to follow a nonviolent, bloodless, vegan diet as a condition of her parole.
Animals on factory farms never get a chance at parole because they always get the death penalty. They spend their lives imprisoned in tiny cages, severely crowded sheds, or filthy feed lots. Their deaths are especially heinous and gruesome: They are shackled upside down, their throats are cut, and they are often scalded or dismembered alive. The last thing that a convicted killer and cannibal should be allowed to do is chew on these innocent victims' body parts.
Eating humane and healthy vegan food will undoubtedly help Nelson lose her taste for blood. Prisons in Thailand, India, and the U.S. have had success by using vegetarian meals as part of violence-reduction programs. If Nelson isn't granted parole, I hope that you will consider serving her exclusively vegan meals in prison. Doing so would also improve her health, which would save taxpayers' money by decreasing her health-care costs. Vegetarians have a lower risk of heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes than meat-eaters do. Vegetarian meals are also cost-efficient and easy to prepare.
I hope you will agree that going vegan is the best way for Nelson to part with her violent past. To help, PETA would be happy to send her our vegetarian/vegan starter kit, which is full of flesh-free recipes and helpful tips for making the transition to a nonviolent diet. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Carrie Snider
Special Projects Coordinator