Australian court upholds prison Vegemite ban for convicted murderer
What's new: The judge found the ban limits cultural rights but allowed it to stand over drug-detection and prison-brewing risks.
An Australian Supreme Court judge rejected a prisoner's bid to overturn Victoria's long-running ban on Vegemite in prisons, ruling the restriction was justified despite limiting his cultural rights. Andre McKechnie, who is serving a life sentence for murder, argued the ban denied him the right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian." Justice Claire Harris found prison authorities could keep the ban because inmates might use the yeast spread to mask contraband from sniffer dogs or ferment alcohol. The policy has been in place in Victoria since 2006 and applies across the state's 12 prisons. Court filings also showed McKechnie had argued Vegemite was a source of vitamin B1, though that issue was not central to the ruling.