Free Republic

At 1%, Muslims are still a small percentage of the population. But there’s one place in America where they are vastly over-represented. State prisons. Take Maryland, which has an estimated 70,000 Muslims, making up over 1% of the population. But of Maryland's 18,562 prisoners, 5,084 were Muslims. That's 27.4% or over 1 in 4 prisoners. It would also mean that 1 out of 13 Muslims in Maryland may have been in a state prison. Those are startling numbers, yet they come from Muslim Advocates, an Islamist legal advocacy group. Both MA’s numbers and the number of Muslims in different states...

Inmates in category A prisons claim Islamists threatened and bullied them Extremists told non-Muslim prisoners to pay jizya as a protection tax Some prisoners said they had to ask friends and family outside prison to transfer money to pay the tax Non-Muslim inmates in several of Britain's category A prisons are being forced to pay a 'protection tax' to radical Muslim prisoners out of fear of facing violence. The 'tax', known as 'jizya', was found to be enforced by some Islamist extremist prisoners in four of Britain's largest prisons. The investigation suggests that religious extremists in prison are using...

The federal Bureau of Prisons, a subdivision of President Barack Obama's Justice Department, has banished all pork products from the menus in all federal prisons ... The government says it made the decision to do this because a survey showed that inmates do not like eating pork products. The Council on American-Islamic relations said “we welcome” the move by the government to deny pork to prisoners, but warned that it might spark “Islamophobia.” ... They just don’t like the taste of pork…. “The National Pork Producers Council isn’t buying it. 'I find it hard to believe that a survey would...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday ruled in favor of a Muslim prison inmate who challenged a regulation that prevented him from growing a beard. The nine justices, on a 9-0 vote, said that the prison policy violated the religious rights of inmate Gregory Holt, who wants to grow a half-inch (1.3 cm) beard in accordance with his Muslim beliefs. The court rejected the state's reasoning that the policy was needed for security reasons. Justice Samuel Alito, writing on behalf of the court, said the state already searches clothing and hair and had not given a valid reason why...

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris prompted millions to take to the streets to show national solidarity and to pay tribute to the 17 people murdered. The attacks have also inspired a lot of soul-searching, as the French struggle to understand how three men, born and raised in France, could have trained the murderous intent of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State on their own countrymen. Prison was the crucible of their radicalization. There are five million to six million Muslims in France, less than 10 percent of the total population, but 60 percent of France’s prison inmates are of...

At least 100 police and prison staff, many dressed in riot gear, were deployed to the Aylesbury Young Offenders' Institute after a large group of Asian prisoners ran riot inside the centre. Sources said that they broke into the officers' mess and workshops and armed themselves with hammers, saws and chisels.

British authorities are spending taxpayers’ money to rebuild prison toilets so Muslim inmates don’t have to face Mecca while using them. The Islamic religion prohibits Muslims from facing or turning their backs on the Kiblah — the direction of prayer — when they use the toilet, according to the Sun newspaper in London. Muslim inmates complain that they have to sit sideways on prison toilets to comply with that prohibition. But now jail officials have bowed to pressure from Muslim leaders and agreed to turn toilets 90 degrees at London’s Brixton prison. Authorities have refused to reveal the cost of...

Guantanamo is a reproach to us all — but how long before the package holidays start? THE BATHING in the bay is excellent. The beach is beautiful and its shores are lined with seagrape and mahogany, cactus and mango, lime and palm. Wildlife flourishes. Emerald humming birds, fly-catchers, kingfishers and orioles throng the skies, and you may hear the plaintive cries of the mocking bird and the mourning dove. Conservationists from the United States are hard at work conserving the native iguanas and the threatened hawksbill turtles. There is a unique Stone Zoo of dinosaurs to visit. It’s surprising this...

March 11, 2005, 2:44PM Muslims mistreated at federal prison, report finds Associated Press WASHINGTON — The warden and guards at a federal prison discriminated and retaliated against Muslim inmates, the Justice Department's inspector general said today in a report that also detailed allegations of mistreatment of Muslims at other U.S. lockups. In one instance at the unidentified federal prison, the warden "unjustly and inappropriately" ordered an inmate transferred to special housing similar to solitary confinement for more than four months, Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said. The move came five days after the inmate talked to Fine's investigators. Federal prosecutors...