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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.
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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. [2]
There are instances in which conversion results in extremist or 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.[ failed verification ] 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'". [3]
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, [4] 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%. [5] Some of this can be explained by the increasing number of foreign national prisoners in UK jails. In 2013, a Ministry of Justice analysis suggested that a significant number of Muslim prisoners weren't British, but were from overseas countries that were predominately Muslim such as Pakistan and Somalia. [6] As of 2021, Albanians, who are mostly Muslims, form the largest group of foreign nationals in UK prisons. [7]
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%." [8] However, the majority of Muslim prisoners in UK jails are immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, an increasing number of Muslim inmates are converts to Islam.. [9]
According to a 2019 Ministry of Justice report, some non-Muslim prisoners were being put under pressure to convert to Islam, with threats of violence. [10]
Muslims are over-represented in Australian prisons, with increasing numbers of inmates undergoing jailhouse conversions. [11]
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. [11]
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". [12] In 2017, ABC News reported that some inmates in NSW's jails were forcing other prisoners to convert to Islam against their will. [13]
In 2018, various Australian academics and experts claimed that prison conversions can have a positive influence, giving inmates structure, hope and a path to rehabilitation. [14]
In France, where ethnic and religious statistics are forbidden, prison administration confirmed that 25.8% of all prisoners asked for "special measures" during Ramadan in 2017. According to estimates, based on country of origin of migrants in France, around 9% of the general population is from an Islamic background [1] [15] [16]
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". [17]
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 estimated 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. [18]
Muslims prisoners have been characterized as a danger or threat for radicalization in the media. [19] For example, Indiana State University professor Mark Hamm stated in an interview with Fox News, "it is not the sheer number of prisoners following extremist interpretations of religious doctrines that poses a threat, rather, it is the potential for the single individual to become radicalized." [20] Yet despite the fact of there being over 350,000 Muslim inmates in the United States, little evidence indicates widespread radicalization or foreign recruitment. [19] Rather, research has shown that Islam has a long history of positive influence on prisoners, including supporting inmate rehabilitation for decades. [19]
The United Kingdom has three distinct legal systems with a separate prison system in each: one for both England and Wales, one for Scotland, and one for Northern Ireland. As of June 2023, the United Kingdom has the highest per-capita incarceration rate in Western Europe, at 159 people per 100,000 in England and Wales; 162 people per 100,000 in Scotland; 97 people per 100,000 in Northern Ireland; and the largest prison population in Western Europe. The average cost per prison place was £46,696 in England and Wales (2021/22), £46,892 in Scotland (2021/22), and £47,927 in Northern Ireland (2022/23).
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to discipline or separate incarcerated individuals who are considered to be security risks to other incarcerated individuals or prison staff, as well as those who violate facility rules or are deemed disruptive. However, it is also used as protective custody on incarcerated individuals whose safety is threatened by others in order to separate them from the general prison population.
HM Prison Whitemoor is a Category A men's prison near March, Cambridgeshire, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
The Goulburn Correctional Centre, is an Australian supermaximum security prison for males. It is located in Goulburn, New South Wales, three kilometres north-east of the central business district. The facility is operated by Corrective Services NSW. The Complex accepts prisoners charged and convicted under New South Wales and/or Commonwealth legislation and serves as a reception prison for Southern New South Wales, and, in some cases, for inmates from the Australian Capital Territory.
Islam is a minority religion in Italy. Muslim presence in Italy dates back to the 9th century, when Sicily came under control of the Aghlabid Dynasty. There was a large Muslim presence in Italy from 827 until the 12th century. The Norman conquest of Sicily led to a gradual decline of Islam, due to the conversions and emigration of Muslims toward Northern Africa. A small Muslim community however survived at least until 1300.
The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, commonly known as ADX Florence or Supermax, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. ADX Florence, constructed in 1994 and opened one year later, is classed as a supermax or "control unit" prison, that provides a higher, more controlled level of custody than a maximum security prison. ADX Florence forms part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, which is situated on 49 acres of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security, including the adjacent United States Penitentiary, Florence High.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the 2011 Census giving the population as 4.4% of the total UK population, while results from the 2021 Census recorded a population of 6.5% in England and Wales. London has the greatest population of Muslims in the country. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom adhere to Sunni Islam, while smaller numbers are associated with Shia Islam.
A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries.
The Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn is a United States federal administrative detention facility in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It holds male and female prisoners of all security levels. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York is a temporarily closed United States federal administrative detention facility in the Civic Center of Lower Manhattan, New York City, located on Park Row behind the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse at Foley Square. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
Growth of religion involves the spread of individual religions and the increase in the numbers of religious adherents around the world. In sociology, desecularization is the proliferation or growth of religion, most commonly after a period of previous secularization. Statistics commonly measure the absolute number of adherents, the percentage of the absolute growth per-year, and the growth of converts in the world.
The Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Indiana. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has an adjacent satellite prison camp for minimum-security male offenders.
Conversion to Islam in U.S. prisons refers to the contemporary high rate of conversion to Islam in American prisons, for which there are a number of factors. It is the fastest growing religion in U.S. prisons, where the population is 18 percent Muslim ; 80 percent of all prison religious conversions are to Islam.
A communications management unit (CMU) is a type of self-contained group within a facility in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons that severely restricts, manages and monitors all outside communication of inmates in the unit.
Revolution Muslim (RM) was an organization based in New York City that advocated the establishment of a traditionalist Islamic state through the removal of the current rulers in Muslim-majority nations and an end to what they consider "Western imperialism". It was founded in 2007 by two American Muslim men: Jesse Curtis Morton and Yousef al-Khattab.
W. J. "Jim" Estelle Unit also known as the Estelle Supermax Penitentiary, is a prison located on Farm to Market Road 3478 in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, United States, 10 miles (16 km) north of central Huntsville. The prison, with about 5,459 acres (2,209 ha) of space, is operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The unit, which opened in June 1984, was named after Ward James "Jim" Estelle, a former prison director of Texas.
Punishment in Australia arises when an individual has been accused or convicted of breaking the law through the Australian criminal justice system. Australia uses prisons, as well as community corrections. When awaiting trial, prisoners may be kept in specialised remand centres or within other prisons.
Islamic extremism in the United States comprises all forms of Islamic extremism occurring within the United States. Islamic extremism is an adherence to fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Islamic extremism became a prioritized national security concern of the U.S. government and a focus of many subsidiary security and law enforcement entities. Initially, the focus of concern was on foreign Islamic terrorist organizations, particularly al-Qaeda, but in the course of the years since the September 11 terror attacks, the focus has shifted more towards Islamic extremist and jihadist networks within the United States.
Prisons in India are overcrowded and eight of out ten prisoners in Indian jails await trial. There are 1319 prisons in India as of 2021. Currently, there are about 1400 prisons. After Carona pandemic, the number of prisoners increased 13 per cent from 2020 to 2021, making over 80 per cent of the prisons overcrowded. After the Supreme Court order, a number of prisoners were release in 2020 to decongest the jails reducing the overall prison occupancy in 20 states and two Union Territories to a little over 93 per cent. However, the occupancy rate increased to 130 per cent again by 2021. About 63 unnatural deaths took place in Indian prisons. Among the major states, Tamil Nadu is the only state which has less than 100 per cent occupancy followed by Karnataka.
Robert "Musa" Cerantonio is a former ISIS propagandist who has been called perhaps "the most famous jihadist in Australia". Cerantonio converted to Islam in 2002, he became an Islamic preacher a few years later, then a supporter of the restoration of the caliphate, and of the Islamic State. He has been arrested and deported once, and is currently serving a prison sentence for trying to travel by boat from Australia to ISIS territory in the southern Philippines due for release in May 2023.