Conversion to Islam in U.S. prisons

Early Black Nationalist Muslim organizations, such as The Nation of Islam and Moorish Science Temple of America, formally began prison outreach efforts in 1942. However evidence suggests that Muslims may have comprised a small fraction of the inmate population in the United States as early as the 1910s. New research brought to light an African immigrant inmate at San Quentin State Prison named Lucius Lehman, who was proclaiming himself to be a Muslim religious leader while calling for Black nationalism during his incarceration from 1910–1924. Elijah Muhammad's organization would later gain its most famous convert, Malcolm X, who took interest in the Black Muslim movement while also incarcerated in the 1950s. A small but steady stream of conversions occurred in the 1950s and early 1960s. These inmates reached out to a local New York Muslim community called Darul Islam for assistance, which eventually led to an active Muslim-based prison ministry and educational program forming in the state. This closely coincided with the transformation of the Nation of Islam into mainstream Sunni Islam ideology under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad's successor and son Warith Deen Mohammed. Immigrant Muslims began getting involved in the work of Muslim prison ministry and rehabilitation, established by their African American Muslims brethren decades before, during the second half of the 20th century in nearly every major American city. Many mosques across the country have some sort of active prison ministry for currently or formerly incarcerated Muslims, with a strong presence from predominantly African American mosques. Some activities include regular prison visits, prison chaplaincy services, counseling to ex-offenders, participation in transitional or halfway homes and substance abuse programs. through the work of these newer prison ministries by the year 2000. and Tayba Foundation have emerged that specifically focus on providing both in-prison and reentry services. Some studies have indicated the rate of recidivism among Muslims is actually lower than any other group. ==Prisoner rights and accommodations==

The Hands-off Doctrine, the approach where federal courts refrained from interfering on inmate rights cases for many decades, was a practice that dated back to the early 20th century and was still practiced by 1960. still had not yet recognized or accommodated the religious activity of Muslim inmates by the start of the 1960s. As the number of incarcerated Muslims began to reach a critical mass, prisoners petitioned courts to advance their religious rights. Cases involving Muslim prisoners began succeeding in gaining recognition for a variety of rights over the next several years, such as freedom from punishment due to religion, the right to hold religious services, the right to possess and wear religious medals, and the right to proselytize. Muslims later won the legal right to obtain religious (halal) diets in prison, with federal prisons attempting to accommodate halal diets beginning in 1983. Some argue that Islam's growth in prisons was made possible through these court cases. These legal victories not only solidified Islam as a legitimate religion among corrections staff and prisoners, but also placed Muslim groups at the center of the prisoners' rights movement for obtaining constitutional rights on behalf of the incarcerated. A 2019 report by advocacy group Muslim Advocates found that state prisons were inconsistent in providing inmates with accommodations such as halal foods, prayer mats, religious books, religious assembly, and Islamic burial rites. "More and more" states are fully accommodating of Muslim prisoners, but in other states, accommodations are difficult or impossible to obtain. In New Jersey, deceased prisoners have been cremated despite the burial wishes of prisoners – cremation being considered haram (religiously forbidden) in Islam. In 2019, in Alabama, a Muslim prisoner was executed without being allowed to have an imam present with him; his request for a Muslim chaplain to be present was blocked by the prison and denied by the Supreme Court of the United States in a 5-4 decision, because the prisoner had waited too long to file the request. Dissenting judges called the decision "profoundly wrong". Justice Elena Kagan wrote, "The clearest command of the Establishment Clause" is that "one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another ... But the State's policy does just that." ==Rate of conversion to Islam==

Professor Lawrence Mamiya of Religion and Africana Studies argues that Islam's appeal in prison is partially due to the spiritual and theological dimensions of the religion (such as brotherhood along with racial and social justice) He also claims that Muslim inmates comprise 17–20% of the prison population in New York, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. Independent studies show similar rates within prisons in the upper Midwest (in urban areas such as Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland) and on the West Coast (in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles). According to a 2003 estimate by FBI, there are 350,000 Muslims in federal, state and local prison, about 30,000 – 40,000 more being converted every year. Muslims prisoners have been characterized as a danger or threat for radicalization in the media. The article states that in a 2004 report, the Justice Department faulted the prison system for failing to protect against "infiltration by religious extremists." However, the report made clear that the problem was not chaplains, but rather unsupervised inmates. However no documentation or verifiable evidence was provided to back up the committee's report (even though the report stated the individuals traveled to apparently learn Arabic) Tens of thousands convert to Islam in US prisons every year. • Jeff Fort – former Chicago gang leader of Black P. Stones • Kevin Gates – rapper • Bernard Hopkins – former middleweight and light heavyweight boxing champion • Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell – basketball player • Abdul Alim Musa – Muslim-American activist • Jalil Muntaqim – political activist, former member of Black Panther Party • Montel Vontavious Porter – professional wrestler signed to the WWE (later became atheist) • Sanyika Shakur – author, activist, former gang member • Russell Maroon Shoatz – activist, member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army • Mike Tyson – professional boxer • Marcellus "Khalifah" Williams – controversially executed in 2024 for murder • Malcolm X – revolutionary and human rights activist • Flesh-n-Bone – rapper, member of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony • B.G. Knocc Out – rapper • Lil Reese – rapper Terry Holdbrooks is a former prison guard at Guantanamo Bay detention camp who converted to Islam and became an author and public speaker. ==See also==