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, 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

Australia

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.

UK

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 on-Muslimcriminals 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 " nisters have announced plans to create specialist units within jails to tackle what a government-ordered review last year n 2016concluded was a 'growing problem'".

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, 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%. 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. As of 2021, Albanians, who are mostly Muslims, form the largest group of foreign nationals in UK prisons.

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 " ound 30% of Muslim inmates are converts o 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% lack Muslimsin the wider (British Muslim

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases