Islamic Religion in Prison - Essay Example

Introduction In prison religion is a hotly stimulating force, and Islam is expanding rapidly. In prison, 'conversion' - for the most part by other prisoners - is the main source of Islam's expansion. The relationship between penology and religiousity in the U.S. can be traced back to the eighteenth century (Latessa & Allen, 1997), and many scholars of the contemporary prison noted down that religious reflection and beliefs had lots of influence on developing current, secular prison practices (Rothman, 1995; Young, Gartner, O'Connor, Larson, & Wright, 1990). In light of this, this paper presents the results of a study exploring the process of conversion to Islam amongst young male prisoners. According to a report presented by the Federal Bureau of Prison (BOP) of America (2004): "[Islamic] contractors are salaried by the BOP to give certain Islamic services to prisoners. [Islamic] contractors are allowed to enter a particular BOP institution four times a year and must be watched over by BOP staff member all the time. And service providers have greater access to institutions and, in accordance with the BOP, need only be supervised every so often because they have completed more thorough background investigations than contractors. The BOP houses approximately 150,000 prisoners in 105 BOP services nationally. As said by the head of the BOP's Chaplaincy Services Branch, around 9,000 prisoners, or approximately 6 per cent of the prisoner population, seek Islamic religious services"1. Similarly in Europe, since 1993, the number of Muslim inmates in British prison has raised three-fold, from 2,106 in 1993 to 6,136 in 2003 (National Offender Management Service, 2004). In 2003, Muslims made up 8 per cent of the 'jailed population' (National Offender Management Service, 2004), and this is an important representation since Muslims made up every year above 2.7 per cent of the UK's whole population. At the same time as the reasons for this representation are several, conversion to Islam (or a re-affirmation of Muslim characteristics) in prison may also explain the mounting numbers of Muslim inmates. In accordance with Rambo (1993, pg. 13), there are effectively four ways in which religious adaptation can be practiced: it perhaps a practice of increased loyalty and commitment within the same religious composition; a move from non religious devotion to a religious life; a change from one religion to another; and the shifting of a person from one group of people to another inside the same major religious practices. As such, the population of Islamic conversions in prison is expected to be varied, consisting of different traditions and different previous experiences of religious activities, as well as persons who recognize themselves as Muslim whose religiousity becomes more important upon imprisonment; persons who do not identify themselves with any religion prior to imprisonment but who then subsequently adopt Islam whilst in jail; and inmates who were following non-Islamic religions prior to, or certainly during part of, their imprisonment, but who then convert to Islam. Within prison, a potential convert can come across a setting that is in support of the practice of conversion. Kose's (1996) study of Muslim conversions in prison shows that the majority of persons practiced three patterns of conversion to Islamic religion, given that "intellectual, affectional, and investigational patterns". Initial skepticism about prior faiths and intellectual finding within Islam values often paves the way towards conversion, and this has come with by individualistic contacts with Muslim brothers or links and a period of "carrying-out-tests" with Islamic religion. The prison environment is itself sometimes a 'hazardous environment' for inmates, owing to the high levels of 'violent behavior' that can be practiced, which may consist of sexual or physical threats and attacks (Edgar and O'Donnell, 1998). However, converting to Islam in jail may serve to lessen an inmate's threat from unfair treatment. Several researchers reported conducts in which Islam has helped them to manage their prison life, in terms of reducing their levels of violent behavior so that their relations and communications with other inmates are less nerve-racking so that there is less possibility for violence. Also, Islam can reduce the probability that inmates participate in illicit activities whilst locked up: It helps because you're with your brothers. Yeah I'm saying that is why it's easier because the happiness of being with people that are Muslim, because you're with the brothers, it's more laid back, there's no tempers flaring, no anxiety, no dealing something like or anything like that so you're ahead of that. Listen, this living's not simple because like, there's like 20,000 prisoners in this whole prison and like you meet all kinds of Tom, Dick and Harry, you know what I'm saying And, at the end f the day, it helps me to cope and keep myself on the reality it helps me to know what's wrong from right (Spalek and El-Hassan, 2007). The theme of self-control featured a lot in prisoner's accounts, so that Islam was viewed as introducing a constructive framework around which to makeup one's life: When I came to Islam, when I've seen the Imam, I noticed the rules, you have to pray five times a day, you have to wash, you have to be clean, you have to watch your tongue, so to me that hit me as the rules of life (Spalek and El-Hassan, 2007). Islam was also seen by scores of the researchers as a means of stopping them from carrying out illicit acts in the future, after leaving jail: In circumstances like I think like always think about Allah is watching you and the states how to act in response, how does Muhammad (P.B.U.H), if he was in this condition yeah, what would he carry out And all the prayers and things alike. Cos that's what it's all about, harmony in it. That's what it means to be a Muslim, being a peaceful human being, that's what it's all about. If you follow Islam properly it assists with life in, in everything as in you prayers it keeps you away from bad intents, that's one of the most important things and having ethics like people need ethics in life or you haven't anything in it It gives you respect and all your purity and to sort of look after your environs ... You know I don't really want to go back out there and be drawn in in the same sort of thing (Spalek and El-Hassan, 2007). The role Islamic religion and religious studies can play in serving inmates to change their lives so that they no longer be able to commit offenses has been documented in another place. For instance, Johnson, B. R. (2004) observes the reasons why inmates prevent committing offense, and some of the ex-inmates featured in their study articulate a spiritual or religious base to justify the change in their lives. Religion, or support groups that enclose a religious dimension to their studies like Alcoholics Anonymous, for instance, can swap crime or other addictive practices that inmates undertake and in that way help to create affirmative change within prisoners. Within prisons, chaplaincy organizations are also involved in increasing and implementing various programs intended at trying to 'restore' inmates. For instance, for Christian inmates, the Sycamore Tree program2 is used, which makes use of a biblical narrative to exemplify issues similar to those practiced in cognitive programs, and is added to these programs and only for those who opt to be included. Prisoners often make use of rationalizations in order to help refuse or give good reason for their criminal behavior, and so for prisoners with religions, the teachings that can be achieved from religious or spiritual texts might help to disrupt prisoner's rationalizations and to help provide prisoners with a plain ethical framework from which to restore their lives. The teachings of Islam can then be used to help restore prisoners so that they are less expected to re-cause offense on release from prison. In light of the significance of Islam to lots of Muslim inmates, the participation of Muslim societies to help re-settle those persons who are recently-released from jail should be a key policy focus. Prisoner memoirs reveal how tricky the changeover from prison to outer life can be (Cook et al., 1998). Relocation programs run by Muslim societies through the use of neighboring mosques can help provide extensive support to ex-prisoners, such as convenient help in finding somewhere to stay and job, also through providing religious support and supervision where this is requested. Currently, however, few such relocation programs exist and so means need to be established to hearten the greater participation of Muslim populations. There has been something of an ethical panic about peoples' conversion to Islam rapidly, or being radicalized by Islam, whilst in prison. Countless newspaper editorials have suggested that in prisons there is a potentially deadly mix of radical beliefs and an offensive past. As Joseph Goldstein (2007) wrote in the newspaper "The Sun", "In the last twenty years, the NY State's Muslim prisoners, who numbered 7,987, have been increasingly identifying as either Sunni or Shiite, a phenomenon that prison chaplains elsewhere say is most pronounced in New York. Shiite inmates, who make up less than 4% of the Muslims in prison here, have long reported religious persecution by the Sunni-dominated Muslim chaplaincy employed by the state. The Sunni-Shiite divide has played a role in at least one stabbing between inmates in 2004, e-mails by prison officials show"3. However, the study in this essay shows that those persons who convert to Islam in British and American prisons are not radicalized, but relatively, Islam offers them with an ethical framework from which to restore their lives. The process of religious change itself is long and lengthy, and is expected to have started during teenage years when persons are inquiring about their faith systems and looking for alternative point of views. This implies that in the context of those who convert to Islam whilst in prison, the role of the 'Imams' working in jails is central in presenting prisoners with traditional forms of Islam. The encouraging work done by prison Imams requires to be supported more thoroughly, mainly when resettling persons who are just-released from jail. Some Muslim converts point out that they think that they have little religious, spiritual and handy support upon leaving prison and this may direct them back to their lives of offense. Consequently, the advancement of inmate relocation programs, through the participation of Muslim societies and neighboring mosques, needs to be energetically followed. References: Basia Spalek and Salah El-Hassan, May 2007, "Muslims Converts in Prison", The Howards Journal of Criminal Justice, 46 (2), pg. 99-114 Latessa, E. and Allen, H. (1997).Corrections in the Community. Cincinnati, OH: Sage. Rambo, L., Understanding Religious Conversion, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1993, pg 13. Kose, Ali, April 1998, Conversion to Islam: A Study of Native British Converts, Kegan Paul International, Vol. 1, No. 2, Pages 316-317 Edgar, Kimmett and Ian O'Donnell, 1998, Assault in Prison, The British Journal of Criminology 38:635-650 Joseph Goldstein, November 07, 2007, Muslims Rivalry Hits New York Prisons, The New York Sun, One SL, LLC. Accessed online April 04, 2008, from http://www2.nysun.com/article/65974 Cook, A., Niven, C., & Downs, M. (1999). Assessing the pain of people with cognitive impairments. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 14, 421-425. Rothman, D. J. (1995). Perfecting the Prison: United States, 1789-1865. In N. Morris & D. J. Rothman (Eds.), The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society (pp. 11-129). New York: Oxford University Press. Garner, J. T., O'Connor, D. B., Larson, D. B., Young, M. C., Wright, K. N., & Rosen, B. (1990). Religion and Criminal Recidivism: A Systematic Literature Review. Boston, MA: Paper presented at the American Psychological Association meeting National Offender Management Service, 2004, Ministry of Justice, Accessed April 04, 2008, Available at http://noms.justice.gov.uk/protecting-the-public/supervision/mappa/ Johnson, B. R. (2004). Religious Programs and Recidivism Among Former Inmates in Prison Fellowship Programs: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study. Justice Quarterly, 21(2), 329- 354. Read More