Conversion to Islam in prisons

Conversion to Islam in prisons refers to the modern phenomenon seen in the Western world of a statistically high incidence of incarcerated criminal non-Muslims converting to Islam while in the prison system. In the decade preceding 2014, the number of conversions to Islam among prisoners in Western countries outpaced all other religions,^[1] with the overall imprisoned Muslim population (jailhouse converts to Islam plus inmates who entered the prison system as Muslims) growing as a result.

Although many prisoners find religion during their time in custody, the phenomenon of conversion to Islam in prisons is of particular discussion among academics, government and social services.

Background

While there is concern amongst state and prison officials of the risk of fast-paced conversion turning into radical Islam, the situation remains much more complicated. For many prisoners, the discovery of religion, Islam in particular provides a coping mechanism, allowing those who are left without contact from their friends and family a space to reflect, read and think about their actions. Conversion to Islam in prison also allows for prisoners to fall into some type of daily routine or structure that keeps them away from alcohol and drugs and allows them place in a community.^[2]

An Australian study published in 2016 that looks at prisons as hotbeds for terrorism finds that conversion and radicalization are more common in extremely violent prisons with harsh conditions.^[3] However, those inmates who are more devout were less likely to become radicalized and tend to not misbehave behind bars.

The radicalization of inmates proves to be much more complicated than just the conversion to Islam. There are many more factors involved such as inmate culture, the characteristics of the prison environment, location, social barriers and the basic need for survival.

Nonetheless, there are instances in which conversion unfortunately results in extremist radical interpretations of Islam. Many prison and state authorities believe prisons are fueling "concerns about the rising threat of [non-Muslim] criminals being brought under the influence" to commit their predisposed acts of violence in the name of a cause—in this case, Islam—endangering the general non-Muslim population. British "[m]inisters have announced plans to create specialist units within jails to tackle what a government-ordered review last year [in 2016] concluded was a 'growing problem'".^[4]

Growth and impact of prison conversions

In some regions, a significant proportion of the growth of the Muslim population through conversion (i.e., growth which is neither the result of Muslim immigration nor natural Muslim birth rates) has been attributed to prison conversions specifically, rather than conversions of persons from the general non-incarcerated population. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the country's total Muslim population exceeded over 3 million in 2016,^[5] though that constituted only around 4.8% of the general UK population. Nevertheless, the proportion of UK prisoners who were Muslims in 2016 was 15%.^[6]

Of the millions of Muslims in the general UK population in 2011, only 5,000 were persons who converted to Islam that year. Yet in that same year "[a]round 30% of Muslim inmates are converts [to Islam...] and many of those are, according to previous Home Office research, from black" ethnic backgrounds. In 1999, it was found that in the United Kingdom "37% of Muslim male prisoners were black Muslims compared with 7% [Black Muslims] in the wider (British Muslim) population," with most Black Muslim inmates being converts to Islam. Meanwhile, "less than 1% of [British] Black Caribbeans are Muslims generally, in jail the figure is almost 19%."^[7]

Australia

Muslims are over-represented in Australian prisons, with increasing numbers of inmates undergoing jailhouse conversions.^[8]

In 2015, within "Victoria and NSW, 8 per cent and 9 per cent of the respective prison populations identify as Muslim, compared with 2.2 per cent and 3 per cent of the general populations. [...] Prison employees, who spoke confidentially to The Weekend Australian, say they are seeing increasing numbers of white and Aboriginal prisoners converting to Islam in jail."^[8]

In April 2017, it was reported that most inmates in NSW's Supermax Prison (High Risk Management Correctional Centre) were Muslim, with only a handful of non-Muslims. Located 195km southwest of Sydney, the prison is often referred to as “Super mosque”. Of the Muslim inmates in Supermax, those serving sentences for non-terrorism related violent criminal offences (including murder, etc) are largely inmates "who converted to Islam behind bars". The Australian reported that "Islam has become an obsession for the violent inmates [...] inside Supermax".^[9]

France

In France, of the total French prisoner population, "a significant proportion of them are converts" to Islam who converted in jail.^[1]

Although under France's strict laicity laws it is illegal to count the country's prisoners by religious affiliation, experts agree on the accuracy of an estimate figure published in 2015 that revealed of the 67,500 people behind bars in France that year, an estimated 70% were Muslim, despite Muslims comprising only 8% of the general French population. The experts also noted that in some prisons, like those near Paris and Marseille, the percentage of Muslim inmates is even higher.^[10]

United Kingdom

According to "Muslim Prisoners' Experiences" report by Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers, conversion to Islam in prisons in the United Kingdom is attributed to converts seeking "support and protection in a group with a powerful identity" and "perceptions of material advantages of identifying as Muslim" in prison, including perks or "material benefits" available only to Muslims "such as more time out of their cell and better food during Ramadan if they become Muslim".^[11]

In 2015, it was reported that there was "a surge in Muslim inmates in recent years, with one in five of those serving sentences in Britain's maximum security jails now said to be following Islam, according to union officials. The Prison Officers' Association has put that down to thousands of lags becoming so-called "convenience Muslims" – converting to the religion to deliberately play the system. [ ...] It added they were also being made even more vulnerable to radicalisation."^[12]

United States

In 2016, the total Muslim population in the United States reached approximately 3.3 million (0.9% of the U.S. population). Yet in the years between 2001 and 2014 it has been estimate that one quarter of a million U.S. convicts converted to Islam in the U.S. prison system,^[1] making prison converts to Islam just from those years (not counting prison converts to Islam before or since then) account for a significant proportion of all Muslims in the United States overall.

In 2011, Pew Research Center data estimated that Muslims made up 9% of the 1,598,780 United States inmates in state and federal prisons despite Muslims being only 0.8% of the general U.S. population in the year prior.^[13]

In US federal prisons alone, "tens of thousands of federal prison inmates have converted to Islam while serving time[... While m]ost do not subscribe to a violent interpretation of the faith, [...] it takes only a few to create a threat, according to Mark Hamm, a professor at Indiana State University who specializes in the field of prison radicalization.

“It is not the sheer number of prisoners following extremist interpretations of religious doctrines that poses a threat,” Hamm told FoxNews.com. “Rather, it is the potential for the single individual to become radicalized.”^[14]

See also

• Christian Identity interpretations of Christianity among some prison gangs in Western countries.
• Prison gang
• Islamist radicalization in European prisons

References