Hayes said denying him a kosher diet violates his Eighth Amendment right that forbids cruel and unusual punishment because he must eat non-kosher food to survive.
Hayes wrote in his complaint that denial of a kosher diet has caused him to suffer from starvation for the past year in prison, WCBS 880’s Fran Schneidau reported.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Correction declined to comment and said the lawsuit has been referred to the attorney general.
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said a judge may be asked to decide the issue, Schneidau reported.
Hayes was sentenced to death in 2010 for the strangulation and rape of Jennifer Hawke-Petit of Cheshire and leaving her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, to die in a fire.
