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In prison religion is a hotly energizing force, and Islam is spreading swiftly, experts say. Even Muslim leaders and scholars say they have been surprised by the pace of prison conversions, though national research on religion in prison is scarce. In what may be the most dramatic example, one researcher says the majority of inmates are Muslim at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, the largest in the country.

In prison, conversion – largely by other prisoners – is the source of Islam’s spread. The prison movement, rooted in the Nation of Islam era of Elijah Muhammed and Malcolm X, initially was mostly African-American. Now, although blacks still predominate, more Hispanics and whites are converting, too. Experts say the Nation’s influence is waning, and Sunni and Shiite traditions are gaining ground.

Soon the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – with its emphasis on prayer, daytime fasting, atonement, and strict observance – will call on the spiritual resourcefulness of Muslims both inside and outside prison. For those behind bars, Ramadan brings the greatest need for accommodations from authorities and the deepest tensions between prison routine and the requirements of Islam. Chaplains say it is a time when prisoners most need support. Outside, Muslims scrutinizing their lives are confronted with the Quran’s admonition to reach out to those in need, “to spread of your substance, out of love for Him, for our kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask and for the ransom of slaves.”

Ramadan begins with the sighting of the new moon, expected to be Oct. 26 or 27, and closes with Eid al-Fitr, the breaking of the fast, around Nov. 25.

Why it Matters

• Islam is quickly gaining converts inside prisons at a time when the government and some religious leaders are encouraging faith as a method of rehabilitation. Experts say the sincere practice of Islam, for example, can develop disciplined, calm and productive behavior among prisoners and a greater chance that they will not return to crime upon release.

• The kind of people and types of Islam that account for converts in prison differ from the growth Islam experiences in America overall, presenting a possible challenge to Muslim communities as more inmates are released.

• While many of inmates’ religious rights were established in court cases decades ago, some inmates are still pressing for accommodations, a need that is particularly acute during special observances such as Ramadan.

• Tensions that exist among Christians and Muslims in the United States also exist among those seeking to minister to inmates.

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Questions for reporters

• How is Ramadan celebrated behind bars at jails and prisons?

• Who leads services for Muslim prisoners? A chaplain? Volunteers? Do Muslim prisoners of different traditions worship together?

• Even at Ramadan, the tradition of community members reaching out to law-breakers behind bars is a new one to Muslim immigrants, chaplains say. Yet it is beginning. What connections exist between mosques and Muslim student associations and prisons? Do members of the local Muslim community see prisoners as part of their community? Are they apprehensive about approaching jails and prisons and the people inside? Who is the bridge, in your area, between prison and the community?

• Despite substantial differences among variants of Islam in prison, usually one Muslim chaplain or lay leader ministers to all Muslims. How do volunteers and prisoners bridge devotional differences and the gaps – in language and culture -among them? How do prisons and jails screen lay volunteers? What rules govern their religious work inside?

• Behind bars, life is controlled by authorities. Islam allows flexibility for difficult situations. Given all that, how do prisoners cope? How do they, for example, comply with the Ramadan requirement to give alms? When prisoners work, they can contribute to charities, and when they do not, they often quietly give little gifts – soap or canteen food – to less-fortunate inmates, in spite of prison edicts against gift-giving. (”You can always give a smile, or give of yourself,” one chaplain says he tells inmates.)

• Do prisons make some accommodations for the last 10, intensified days of Ramadan prayer? How do prisoners celebrate the Eid al-Fitr feast that closes the holy season? Are fasting prisoners, who may need to work less intently, accommodated?

• Many prisons serve Muslims two meals at Ramadan, after sundown and before sunup, but balk at serving a third, in the middle of the night. Other prisons hand out sack lunches at meals for Muslims to set aside for later. Are local prisons serving nighttime meals, and how many do they allow? It’s not uncommon for prisoners who are not usually observant to try to follow the letter of the law during Ramadan. What issues does this pose in, for example, the need for greater amounts of halal meat?

• Is there evidence, anecdotally or through research, that Islam helps reduce recidivism?

 

National sources

Abu Ishaq Abul Hafiz, supervisory chaplain at Terminal Island federal prison and at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, is the longest-serving Muslim chaplain in the federal prison system. He wrote the section on Islam for the federal prisons religion reference manual and can describe the detailed preparations federal chaplains are making, including online conferencing, for Ramadan. Contact 310-732-5195 ext. 200 or 213-253-9575.

• The 40-year-old Islamic Society of North America, an umbrella organization, holds an annual Islam in Prisons conference around July 4. Contact director Sayyid M. Syeed at 317-839-1812 or ssyeed@aol.com, or conference director Mukhtar Ahmad at 317-839-8157, mahmad@isna.net.

• Iftekhar Hussain can describe the American Society of Muslims’ work in prisons. Contact 610-864-9803.

• Abdullah Muhammad directs the Prison Reform Program of the Nation of Islam. Contact 773-324-6000.

• Joe Weedon, manager of government affairs at the American Correctional Association, the affiliation of corrections professionals, can help reporters find sources at prisons. Contact 301-918-1885, joew@aca.org.

• Lawrence A. Mamiya, acting chairman of the department of religion at Vassar College, is an expert on African-American religions, the history of the Nation of Islam and Muslims in prisons, and current issues in New York prisons. He says state prisons in the East, Midwest and West have largely accommodated Muslim prisoners, who often comprise 20 percent of inmates, or sometimes more. He has done research at Rikers Island. Contact 845-437-5522, mamiya@vassar.edu.

• Mahdi Bray, imam and executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, can talk about how prisons structure their Ramadan celebrations, the history of Islam in prison and Muslim prisoners’ rights and case law. Contact 202-496-1288, mas4freedom@aol.com.

• Professor Harry R. Dammer, criminologist at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, studies and teaches about religion in prison. Follow links and sources throughout his web site. Contact 570-941-6170, dammerh2@UofS.edu.

• The American Correctional Chaplains Association, with members in most states, has about 450 member chaplains. A rough breakdown: About 300 are Protestant, 100 Catholic, a dozen Jewish and another dozen Muslim. A half-dozen represent American Indian faiths. Some 20 chaplains are in an “other” category, including Buddhists, Wiccans, Hindus and other faiths. Members are state employees and professional chaplains. They do not include the numerous volunteer chaplains at prisons and jails. There is a shortage of qualified Muslim chaplains around the country, despite cutbacks in religious services at some prisons. Contact president Paul Rogers or staff Muslim chaplain Imam Ron Beyah, 920-324-6298., Ronald.beyah@doc.state.us. Interviews are cleared by media coordinator Bill Claudius, 608-240-5060.

• Chaplain Gary Friedman is director of the Seattle-based Jewish Prisoner Services International and communications director of the American Correctional Chaplains Association. More conversions to Islam take place in state prisons than in federal prisons, he says, surmising that this may be because state prisons have a larger African-American population and they comprise the bulk of the conversions. Contact 206-985-0577.

LEGAL SOURCES

• At the Council on American-Islamic Relations, contact Khadija Athman, who receives prisoners’ complaints and mediates on their behalf, especially regarding accommodations for Ramadan. Contact 202-488-8787, kathman@CAIR-net.org.

• The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is working on several Muslim inmate cases (see background below) that rely on the U.S. Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Roman Storzer is director of litigation for the Becket Fund, a public interest law firm working for religious rights. He tracks some prisoner religious rights cases. Contact 202-955-0095, rstorzer@becketfund.org.

• Ayesha Khan is the attorney in charge of prisoner rights, including religious rights, at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Contact 202-466-3234.

• The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project in Washington, D.C., focuses on prison litigation, though it currently has no inmate religious cases. Attorney David Fathi is the resident expert on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. Contact Kara Gotsch, public policy coordinator, 202-393-4930, kgotsch@npp-aclu.org.

 

Background

• Read the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ 2002 Inmate Religious Beliefs and Practices: Technical Reference Manual (click on download/view).

RAMADAN

• Ramadan begins with the sighting of the new moon, expected to be Oct. 26 or 27, and closes with Eid al-Fitr, the breaking of the fast, around Nov. 25. Not all Muslim groups agree on when the new moon is sighted, so Ramadan can start on different days for different groups.

• Read a primer on Ramadan from Islam101.com.

• Read a primer on Ramadan from Beliefnet.com.

ISLAM

Prison is home to numerous Islamic traditions, including several small offshoots. Here is some background information and links:

• Approximately 30 percent of the nation’s Muslims are black, according to the Associated Press. The majority of the other 70 percent of U.S. Muslims are immigrants or their descendants.

• Black Muslims include members of the Nation of Islam, a group begun by Elijah Muhammed that espoused nationalist, separatist ideals. His son, Warith Deen Mohammed, took over the movement in the 1970s and named it the American Society of Muslims, and he repudiated the Nation’s separatist ideas for more inclusive Sunni Muslim beliefs. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan split from W.D. Mohammed in the 1980s, keeping the older, separatist approach, although now he is reportedly moving the group in a more moderate direction.

• Read an Aug. 30, 2003, Associated Press story posted by the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal about differences between the black American Society of Muslims and immigrant Muslims in the United States.

• Read a Sept. 3, 2003, Chicago Tribune story posted at BlackVoices.com about the American Society of Muslims’ search for a successor to W.D. Mohammed.

• Read about the history of the Nation of Islam. Read Beliefnet.com’s FAQ about the Nation of Islam.

• This site offers a look at the theology of the Moorish Science Temple, a Muslim group that began in America in 1913 and is growing among prison inmates. Harvard University’s Pluralism Project offers a snapshot of the Moorish Science Temple of America in Dearborn, Mich.

ISLAM IN PRISON

• Although scholars and chaplains say that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in prison, no statistics have been compiled for the number of Muslims in state prisons and city and county jails (where prisoners have short-term stays), says Mohamed Nimer, research director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations and author of a guide to Islamic religious practices, used by jails, prisons and chaplains. Contact 202-488-8787, ext. 3233, nimer@cair-net.org.

• See “Facts and figures on Muslims in corrections” with links to articles and sources at Niqabi Paralegal, a blog about legal issues facing Muslims in the United States.

• The Federal Bureau of Prisons records prisoners’ religious preferences and says that, in September 2003, some 5.5 percent of the federal inmate population (172,785 on Oct. 6, 2003) were some form of Muslim. Among them, 2.1 percent were Nation of Islam and 1.1 percent were Moorish Science Temple adherents. The bureau oversees 104 institutions. It has 10 Muslim chaplains and will not identify them by faith, since all chaplains serve all religions. To interview a chaplain, contact spokeswoman Traci Billingsley (below) or the prison. Chaplains oversee all religious programming, using volunteers or the federal procurement process to fill special needs. Uniform regulations allow inmates to wear religious headwear (which can be searched at any time for contraband), trimmed beards and prayer beads and to own prayer rugs and literature. Federal prisons serve halal/kosher meals. Contact Billingsley at 202-307-3198 or tbillingsley@bop.gov, or ask for clearance to speak with Susan VanBalen, head chaplain.

• Read an article posted at SoundVision.com (a Chicago-area distributor of Muslim media and literature) about one man’s efforts to make zabiha (ritually slaughtered) meat available to Muslim inmates across the United States.

• Famous prison converts to Islam include Mike Tyson and Jamil Al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown).

HOW TO GET ACCESS TO MUSLIM PRISON SOURCES

Approach the story from inside and outside the prison simultaneously. Call jails and prisons and ask who provides religious services to Muslims. If you can, identify and speak first with those who work directly with the Muslim prisoners. Then, work your way up to the head chaplain or programs director, who may have less direct contact. Also, call mosques and Muslim student groups to ask who, if anyone, volunteers to work in prisons and jails. Contact different kinds of mosques – those associated with the American Society of Muslims, Nation of Islam and immigrant groups. Work your way through the community of Muslims who have access to prisoners in this way, asking for names and contacts with Muslim prisoners who can talk about their experience. If access to prisoners is a problem, work instead to get access to their families. You can write their stories indirectly, if necessary, by writing about their families. What are the special tensions, for example, when a family member in prison converts to Islam but those outside do not? Family members on the outside can talk about the struggles of their loved ones to practice their faith during Ramadan, and they can talk about the difficulties of celebrating a family holiday when the family is fragmented.

U.S. MUSLIM POPULATION

• Although the concept of membership doesn’t apply in mosques, a survey coordinated by Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religious Research in 2000 (see Mosque Study Project) found that about 2 million Muslims attend prayer in U.S. mosques. Between 1994 and 2000, the study found, the number of mosques grew by 25 percent, and the number of Muslims worshipping in them grew by 300 percent.

• Read a summary of the difficulties of collecting statistics on Muslim growth in the United States and the history of Islam here from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

OTHER STATISTICS

• African-Americans comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population, 30 percent of people arrested, 41 percent of those in jail and 49 percent of those in prison, according to a 2000 report by Human Rights Watch.

• According to a story posted on PBS’ NewsHour EXTRA web site, the federal Justice Department reports that the U.S. prison population rose 2.6 percent in 2002 to reach 2 million. Women make up almost 7 percent of all prison inmates. Read an Aug. 28, 2001, PBS report on prisons.

COURT CASES INVOLVING MUSLIM INMATES

• Court cases in the 1960s and ’70s established prisoners’ constitutional right to religious services. Yet experts say that except for federal prisons, those established rights are unevenly interpreted. Some new court cases are being filed, but, mostly, Muslim and prisoners’ rights organizations work toward administrative remedies on behalf of scores of Muslim prisoners to get access to Muslim-sanctioned food, Friday community worship, religious items or the right to grow a beard. In the North and Northeast, many prisons have Muslim chaplains or bring in outside imams or volunteers. In the South, experts say, some Muslims still have no access to Muslim religious leadership in prison or jail, and no accommodations are allowed for Ramadan.

• Most cases guiding religion in prison were decided decades ago, including Fulwood v. Clemmer (1962), Cooper v. Pate (1964), and Cruz v. Beto (1972). In Fulwood, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that correctional officials must recognize Islam.

• Read a Sept. 11, 2003, story from The Star-Ledger in New Jersey, posted by IndyMedia Center, about the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ Sept. 10 ruling that the New Jersey Department of Corrections need not serve halal meat at a maximum-security prison in Trenton.

• The U.S. Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act is the basis for a spate of current suits by prisoners seeking greater religious accommodation. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is working on several cases that rely on RLUIPA arguments. Roman Storzer is director of litigation for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a bipartisan public interest law firm working for religious rights. He tracks some prisoner religious rights cases. Contact Storzer, 202-955-0095, rstorzer@becketfund.org.

• Frankie Cancel, a Shiite Muslim prisoner at Franklin Correctional Facility in New York, filed a grievance in 1998 and was successful in convincing Department of Corrections personnel to allow separate Shiite religious services at a time when only Sunni religious services were available. Cancel sued two prison imams under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The RLUIPA aspects of the case (Cancel v. Mazzuca, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York No. 01-CIV-3129 NRB) were dismissed but First Amendment claims remain and the case is pending before U.S. District Court.

• Henry Williams is a Muslim prisoner at the State Correctional Institution in Rockview, Pa. He sued after he was fired from his kitchen job for refusing to handle pork, citing religious sanctions against it. Williams alleges that he was subjected to a chain of punitive consequences by prison officials after the incident. The state moved to dismiss on grounds that the RLUIPA act was unconstitutional. On Sept. 30, 2003, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania upheld the constitutionality of RLUIPA. The case (Williams v. Bitner, Case No. 01-CV-2271) is now headed for trial before U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner.

• In two Wisconsin cases with conflicting state decisions, the constitutionality of RLUIPA is at issue in appeals to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:

• Jerry Charles (Charles v. Verhagen, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Case No. 01-C-253-C; Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Case No. 02-3572), a Muslim prisoner at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution, is suing to get Islamic prayer oil and the ability to celebrate more than one annual religious feast. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin upheld the RLUIPA.• Tayr Kilaab al Ghashiyah, a Muslim prisoner at the Green Bay Correctional Institution, is suing to use his Muslim name, eat halal food and possess candles, incense, oil and other religious accoutrements. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin denied the constitutionality of RLUIPA in this case (Tayr Kilaab al Ghashiyah v. Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections, et al, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Case No. 01-C-10).

Regional sources

STATE BY STATE

• See a list of Nation of Islam regional headquarters.

• The American Correctional Chaplains Association lists regional officers and how to reach them.

• The Federal Bureau of Prisons site links to federal prisons by region and state.

IN THE NORTHEAST

• The Hartford Seminary Islamic Chaplaincy Program offers a 24-credit series of courses that, combined with an internship, awards a certificate in Islamic chaplaincy. Contact director Ingrid Mattson, professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations, at 860-509-9531 or imattson@hartsem.edu, or Professor Jane Smith, whose expertise includes Christian-Muslim relations, women in Islam and Islam in America, at 860-509-9532, jismith@hartsem.edu. The department number is 860-509-9534.

• Tony Bruno, director of religious services for the state of Connecticut, can describe how his prisons deal with prisoners’ needs during Ramadan. Contact 860-692-7577.

• Imam Luqman Abdur-Shahid, in the New York City Department of Corrections’ volunteer services program, can discuss relations between prisoners and the outside Muslim community. Contact 212-266-1405.

• The head chaplain at New York City Department of Corrections is Imam Umar Abdul Jalil. Contact 718-546-8325.

• Professor James E. Jones, chairman of world religions at Manhattanville College in New York, is an imam who has done research in prisons. Contact 914-323-5134, jonesj@mville.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Attorney Karima Al-Amin’s husband, Imam Jamil Al Amin (the former H. Rap Brown) is serving a life sentence and is in solitary confinement at state prison at Reidsville, Ga. She can discuss the difficulties he and others have getting religious accommodations and can discuss the needs of Muslims in prison. Contact 404-873-1050.

• Alan Godlas, professor in the department of religion at the University of Georgia, offers basic Islam resources on his “Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic, and Religion” site. http://www.uga.edu/islam Contact 706-542-1486, godlas@uga.edu.

• Woodrow Hudson is director of chaplaincy services for the Georgia Department of Corrections in Atlanta. Contact 404-657-9719.

• Imam A.J. Sabree is chaplain in the George state prisons. Contact 404-656-7358.

• Shaykh Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee is khalifah of Shaykh Ibrahim Muhammad al-Battawi, of the Shadhuliyyah-Badawiyyah (Sufi) order. Based in Charlottesville, Va., he serves as imam and works with prisoners, university students, Muslim immigrants and African-American communities in Charlotte N.C.; Columbia S.C.; Augusta, Harrisonburg, Bedford, Farmville, Richmond, Staunton and Charlottesville, Va. Contact 434-977-8812, and@an-noor.net.

• Imam Wahid of the Ar-Razzaq Islamic Center in Durham, N.C., can discuss community involvement with jails and prisons. Contact 919-493-1230.

IN THE SOUTH

• Okolo Rashid, director of the International Museum of Muslim Cultures in Jackson, Miss., has numerous contacts in the local Muslim community. Contact 601-960-0440.

• The Rev. Jeff Lyles is chaplain at the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Ala. Contact 205-467-6112.

• Ihsan Bagby, professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, is expert in Islam and its history and practice in North America, and he has community contacts who can help locate sources, including prison volunteers. He is black and a convert to Islam. Contact 859-257-9638, iabagb2@uky.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST

• Aminah B. McCloud, professor of religious studies at Chicago’s DePaul University, has studied Islam in prisons. She can discuss how Muslim chaplains are trained and what aspects of Islam they are teaching prisoners. Contact 312-362-8000, amccloud@condor.depaul.edu.

• Imam Frederick Thaufeer al-Deen in Illinois is a former administrative chaplain in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Contact 773-418-0494.

• Imam Taha Tawil in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has done work in prisons. Contact 319-396-8733.

• Sherman Jackson, expert on the subject of Islam in America, is professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Michigan. Contact 734-763-4671, sajackso@umich.edu.

• Anthony Pinn chairs the African-American Studies program and teaches religious studies at Macalester College in Minnesota. He can give historical background on the Nation of Islam’s roots in prison. Contact Pinn@Macalester.edu.

• Paul Rogers, president of the American Correctional Chaplains Association, is chaplain at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wis. Contact 920-324-6298, paul.rogers@doc.state.wi.us.

• Ron Beyah is the Muslim chaplain at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wis. Contact 920-324-6364.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Frederick M. Denny, professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, teaches Islamic studies and is a specialist on Muslim communities in America. He has written about jailhouse religion as a challenge to the American Muslim Community. Contact 303-492-6358, Frederick.Denny@Colorado.EDU.

• Abbas Barzegar, a graduate student at the University of Colorado, is a Latino Muslim and former president of the school’s Muslim Student Association. He volunteers to help with religious services in prison. He says Latinos – in and out of prison – are converting to Islam at an accelerated pace. Contact 720-404-4418, iqraabbas@hotmail.com.

• Don Keil is assistant director for religious programming for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Contact 936-437-5050.

• Contact Chaplain James E. Jacobson at Oregon State Penitentiary, 503-378-2333.

• J. Muhammad Diwan established the Northridge-based California Muslim Prisoners Foundation in 1995 to provide seminars, Islamic literature and post-prison release programs for Muslim inmates. Spanish-language materials are available. Contact 818-886-1GOD.

• Asma Gull Hasan, who lives in San Francisco, wrote American Muslims: The New Generation (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000). She can talk about the younger generation of American Muslims. Contact 415-778-5482, Asmaauthor@aol.com.