(Prayer call) (Prayer call) It's time for afternoon prayers and the
Muslim inmates in this California state prison are doing what was once forbidden -- having an Islamic worship service. People couldn't gather in groups to teach and
do practices of religion. Of the 3,832 inmates at Solano prison,
the chaplain estimates about five percent are practicing Muslims. The
prison doesn't track religious identity partly because it's so fluid. And
religious expression is a barometer for how Islam has evolved within the U.S.
penitentiary system. Hey guys, I'm Shreen. And today we've travelled to Solano
Prison in Vacaville, California to explore how the world's fastest-growing
religion has had to fight to find a home in prison. When I became Muslim, I was given a set
of principles: Do this. Don't do that. When in doubt, don't. That's Jessie Burleson,
who people here know as Hasani. He's been in prison for 31 years.
Hasani is one of the practicing Muslims at Solano prison, and they're part of the
millions of people behind bars in the U.S. In fact, the United States has the
largest prison population in the world. The more than 2.3 million people it had
incarcerated by the end of 2017 were more than any other developed nation.
That number includes inmates at federal, state, and county prisons. And it's
growing. In a place where your housing, meals, and recreation time is highly
constrained by rules, finding a way to practice your faith can be difficult.
These inmates have figured out a way to infuse their faith into their sentences.
One of the things that started me seeking something different was, I was
looking at the people that were around me -- who were older than I was -- who had been in prison longer than me, and who had
been on that same negative self-destructive path. And me not being
satisfied with what I was seeing in them. And at that time I started going to
religious services. It didn't matter if it was Muslim, Christian, Jewish. I
went seeking a better way and I believed in God. So I knew that the only way I was
gonna change was through God. He's just one of the Muslims that Solano chaplain
Muhammad Ali interacts with on a daily basis. Ali is an Imam who spent four
years at this prison, helping people like Hassani explore their faith. He
believes it can be an important part of their rehabilitation. Religion is
important to inmates because it connects them to something bigger than
their circumstance. You have people who you know where you're here in prison and
there's a lot of things you can't control, whether it's your your eating, it's your living
condition. It really helps human beings feel
essence of connectedness to something beyond what's right in front of
them. But Islam's journey in penitentiaries has been complicated by
prison culture and legal challenges. Though nationally Muslims make up 1% of the U.S. population, that number is expected to double by 2050. Some of that
growth specifically comes from inmates converting to Islam behind bars. Islam is
known for having a particularly strong presence in prisons. In fact, more people
convert to Islam per capita than any other religion. Nationwide, Muslims make
up 10 to 15% of prisoners. Ali even said he has one to two inmates convert to
Islam monthly, though that's not his goal. What makes those statistics resonate
more is knowing how difficult it was to get Islam accepted as a recognized
religion within some prisons. The prison administration, through their custody
officers, wouldn't allow groups of Muslims that congregate over three, and
when they did they would break, they would break them up. That's Abdul Raoof
Nasir, and he spent 30 years using his Islamic faith to help inmates and
correctional institutions. He considered it social justice work and an active
part of his faith. Back when he started in the 1970s, he says the prison system
was full of subtle discrimination against Muslims. Some Muslim inmates at this prison sued in 1996 for greater access to religious services. Their
demands included hiring a full-time Muslim chaplain and the ability to
attend Friday prayers without penalties, like demerits for leaving work.
Eventually, they did receive a full-time Imam and their other demands. Prison
officials dispute this account. They say Muslim inmates were never denied access to their religion, and instead the constraints were reflective of staffing
and organizational issues that were resolved. Nationwide, the legal pushes
continue today. A 2013 report says that Muslims submitted the most religious
discrimination complaints out of any other religious group in prison. Islam
and Muslim organizations in prisons, for the most
part seem to be powerful because they've been there a long time. They have
challenged the status quo of the prison system itself legally and physically.
That quality of questioning power is easily identifiable with one of the
religions most notable converts. Malcolm X, his narrative is prominent and so that
attracts people toward Islam. And then the reformative value that they find in
that the hope that it gives, that I can survive in prison,
Malcolm survived in prison. Malcolm X's legacy still resonates today more than
50 years after his death. While serving a prison sentence, then-named Malcolm
Little converted to the Nation of Islam in 1952. He found mainstream Islam years later and felt it was much more racially inclusive then the Nation. But as Muslim we
will be Muslims. I will try and teach the religion of Islam among the so-called
Negroes and make them Muslims. Aside from spiritual guidance and the
ability to change your life around, another reason Nasir says some
incarcerated people are drawn to the faith is for another reason entirely: how
prisons are organized. A central organizing principle in prison is
containing the threat of violence. Inmates are housed and classified
according to the risk of violence they pose. Here at Solano, it means they're housed dormitory-style. Those that pose a higher risk, are housed
themselves like this with armed guards. In their downtime, the crew that inmates
spend time with matters because they're the ones that also offer protection. So
what does any of this have to do with practicing Islam in prison?
Well Nasir explains that your brothers in the faith can actually help protect
you behind bars and that source of support transcends race. Islam does
challenge the strict rules of race in prison, because if a person of another
ethnic group besides African American becomes a Muslim
then he's embraced in Islamic community. And he's not only embraced, he's
protected from outside pressures that other groups may place against them. Being in prison isn't necessarily that type of situation to where
you know you need to join a group to be safe. That's not -- hasn't been my experience, but I would say being a part of a community
in prison is definitely beneficial in that regard. What he is really describing
is support. And the support that incarcerated Muslims require is
different than their free brethren. In fact, there are several things about
prison that changed how Islam is practiced. There's no quran app, no call
to prayer from your cell phone, and being Muslim here is about survival in a
completely different way than it is outside. It does afford some opportunity for inmates to think about their
rehabilitation, think about meaning in life, think about who they want to be as
a person while here or when leaving here. Just because religion might help some
people survive prison doesn't mean they'll continue the practice after
release. Nasir has seen people let go of the faith when they get out. But Hasani, who's
just days from release, has his sights set on making Islam's most important
journey for Muslims, the pilgrimage called Hajj. So I think for me that
making the Hajj as, as one of my goals primary goals, if I keep that as a
primary goal, that I will be successful and not only standing on the path but
doing everything that I need to do in order to get off parole,
save some money, and make the Hajj. I learned so much about incarceration in
this story. If you want to learn more check out Ear Hustle the podcast out of
San Quentin Prison. In the meantime, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe and
let us know in the comments what prison stories you want us to cover next.
I've been to jail but not prison.
after jail, i think that's when i really started reading about Deen. before that i knew of Islam but never really really thought about it.
Wallahi itโs because Allah favors the downtrodden, so that his light shines more brightly in the darkness.
There's an Ex-con youtuber that talks about his experience in prison, and he said Religion is an important part of prison life, because when you have nothing but time, you want to get close to god if anything
There's also a great doc that CNN did on Muslims in prison:
https://www.reddit.com/r/islam/comments/7tkgau/cnn_this_is_life_islam_in_prison_full_documentary?sort=top
Their are no atheists in foxholes.