Islam in prison: religion or terrorist threat?

Islam in prison: religion or terrorist threat?

Many people find religion in prison. It used to be a route through prison life, just like some prisoners take up education or weight lifting. The cynical say that those taking the religious route are escaping, as in “I have seen the light. Can I have parole now, please?”. However, never before in penal history has there been so many religious converts as there are today. Thousands upon thousands of prisoners, in the Western World, whom the prison authorities claim were not particularly religious minded outside of prison, are now turning to Islam in custody. It may be argued that, taking up the Muslim faith aids a prisoner’s rehabilitation. On the other hand, there are arguments that Islamic prisoners pose a threat not only to prison security but also to the national security of Western nations. Leaked FBI files suggest that many of these prisoners have been recruited by imprisoned terrorists. It is claimed that there is a link between these conversions to Islam and the rise in extremist violence. This is hardly surprising given that, since at least the 1960s, prisons have been dubbed by some as “Universities of Crime”. In a sense, progress can be blamed. For example, Computer Graphics was being studied in Russian universities during the late 1960s but it was all rather primitive compared with IT courses available at universities throughout the world today. By the same token, prisoners diversify into other areas of knowledge. Time does not stand still, and neither do the prisoners nor their minds.

The bear pit of prison politics makes politics outside of prison, in the so-called liberal democratic countries, appear like the proverbial teddy bear’s picnic. In the same way that a heterosexual may become a prison queer, there is prison Islam which differs from Islam outside of prison. And, in the same way that American prisons are worse than UK prisons for physical and sexual violence, so too is the radicalism. Take for example, the California State Prison in Sacramento, there are groups (or gangs, if you like), which follow, inter alia, traditional Islam, Nation of Islam, Moorish Science Temple, and Prison Islam. It is not like contraband being smuggled in from the outside, prison Islam has grown like the vegetables in a prison allotment garden. In the same way that I received one to one tutoring in Hull Prison Special Unit (1989/1991), these prisoners receive one to one teaching. Former rival gang members are joining forces, and, somewhat strangely, there is intelligence that even white former supremacist Neo-Nazis who have joined Sunni Muslims. Shiites challenge Sunnis, and Sunnis battle Nation of Islam, and prison Islam takes them all on. In my view, the power dynamics is extremely complex. And, as with the IRA when in English prisons, there was the inner core, and a middle ring and outer fringes who were only sympathisers but nevertheless could cause the prison authorities problems in both security and control. I suspect, like with the IRA, sometimes those on the fringe may be more troublesome. I would observe the Commander in Chief of the IRA standing back from the scene of a disturbance, like a casual observer, when perhaps minutes before he had been in conversation with whoever was causing the disturbance.

A problem for the prison authorities is how to tackle what they may deem as a growing menace. I recall in Albany Prison, Isle of Wight, one time when a new inmate arrived on the Wing. There was something not kosher about him. A few innocent seeming questions roused further suspicions. He neither talked the talk nor walked the walk, and was suspected of being a police plant. When the suggestion was put to him, he tried to brazen it out and even produced his “deps” (depositions) to show he was who he claimed to be and that he was not a sex offender but “in for robbery”. However, the bundle of “deps” appeared to have come straight out of a type-writer and none of the pages were dog-eared at the corners which you would have expected given that he claimed he had “been in” for three years. I almost felt sorry for him when he stressed “robbery with complications”. There is no such thing in underworld terminology. It was just a question of how he would be dealt with as he had to be taken out of the equation. An imprisoned bent copper has to take his chances or seek protection from the authorities. A serving undercover policeman is another matter. It was decided that I would pull one of the Security Officers aside and whisper in his ear “Your plant’s been sussed, get him out or else”. He went very quickly. The Security Officer said, “That didn’t take you very long. I told them it would not work”. In the same way that the intelligence services operates on a “need to know” basis our operation was carried out. He was asking questions which only those at the core or head of the organisation needed to know. Confidences may be shared, but not with a complete outsider. I am not for one minute saying that the security services in the US or UK would be so stupid as to put such a greenhorn into such a situation where Islamic extremism is present. Nevertheless, sleepers like George Blake operated for years undetected. But, that was a different world and a different time. Prison chaplains have always been treated with suspicion by prisoners. It amazes me that this approach is being considered by the FBI, only this time with Imams. In the same way that prisoners would educate other prisoners how to TWOC or pick locks, the same applies here. Prison Islam could teach the Imams a thing or two. I don’t recall hearing about any Roman Catholic IRA members going into the confessional and saying “Father, forgive my sins, I’ve just killed 21 people in a Birmingham pub bombing. And, so and so was with me as was the other so and so”. Prisoners are not bringing in prison Islam from outside. As they are released they are taking it out into the wider community. Whilst I agree with the judge in California who has ordered that 55,000 prisoners must be released to ease overcrowding, I just wonder what percentage could be prison Islam converts on a mission?
http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com/2009/02/court-orders-california-to-cut-prison.html