THE 5% FRAUD (Nation of Islam)

August 25, 2003 -- It's been perfectly clear to cops, judges and prison administrators around the nation that a radical offshoot of the Nation of Islam - known as the Five-Percenters - comprises a gang of violent criminals who, among other things, advocate killing police officers.

As is painfully typical of this opinion piece from the NY Post, the first half of the sentence may be true and the second half isn't.

The Five Percenters (who are NOT Nation of Islam) may have gotten some sort of recognition, which probably means a limited amount of access to their own propaganda (but not unlimited ... courts have upheld prisons that restricted inmates' access to stuff from the Christian Identity church and the Aryan Church and some others - not the mainline religions) but it definitely doesn't mean that prison authorities are going to allow, much less provide, every trinket and indulgence they can dream up (there was a famous case, about 20 years ago, of a "Church of the New Song", begun in prison, that tried to insist that its sacriments included a five course meal featuring porterhouse steaks and a good red wine ... they didn't get what they asked for either).

I've worked in the New York State prison system (uniform division) for 23 years. Time and time again, I've seen the state fail to appeal cases they could have won at a higher court. One of the main reasons the state loses so many cases is because they have inexperienced lawyers in their ranks. They get them right out of lawschool, and the majority of them don't stay long enough to get their business cards printed. The New York State Dept. of Correctional Services (NYDOCS) has a tendency of going even farther than the courts order them to. In their small minds, they think they are preventing further suits if they give the inmates more than what they ask for. Unfortunately, the bulk of individuals administering this department either never worked a day in prison, or haven't worked in one for 20 years. In approximately 116 days I'll be giving a rat's a$$ about what happens in this prison system, because instead of Calgon, it will be retirement taking me away!!

I have read the decision purportedly described in the NY Post article, namely Marria v. Broaddus (SDNY 7/31/03, nr. 97 CIV 8297). It doesn't live up the NY Post's description. Judge Buchwald is no fool. She provides a historical sketch of the Five Percenters, who sometimes call themselves the Nation of Gods and Earths, which split off from the Nation of Islam about 40 years ago. She discusses their doctrines and their differences from the NOI.

Although the 5%ers had a significant constituency outside the Green Haven Prison, and a very substantial constituency in several prisons, the management of Green Haven was essentially pretending it didn't exist, largely out of disapproval for the group itself. But there had already been a multitude of court decisions, around the country, generally holding that 5%ers in prison have religious rights similar to other religious groups inside prison. The plaintiff in this particular case was obviously behaving as if he regarded it as a real religion, studying its books and adopting its practices, including the adoption of a new name, Intelligent Tarref Allah.

The Green Haven authorities offered their excuses for ignoring Marria's requests aimed at practicing his religion, the court noted that many of these were extremely flimsy (such as a report that some 5%ers outside prison had committed crimes - a claim that relied on examples from 30 years ago).

Among the religious rights that Marria was suing for was the right to have group study sessions, where the basic religious literature of this cult could be studied and preached. The prison authorities had denied him this but made the excuse that they "graciously" allowed him to participate in NOI instruction - even though many NOI practices conflict with 5%er taboos and getting communications from the outside NOI mosque would require him to register himself officially as NOI instead of 5%er.

The judge noted that the prison didn't and wouldn't impose some of these barriers and restrictions on more mainstream and powerful religious groups, and the reasons for imposing them on the 5%ers raised serious constitutional questions. In other words, "Here the [Dept of Correctional Services] proposes to treat exclusively as a [forbidden] gang a group that has had a law-abiding existence outside prison for the better part of 40 years, that is an offshoot of another group [NOI] that [the Dept] considers a religion, and that has practices that largely resemble those of recognized religious groups, with the consequence that [the Dept] has banned literature which it concedes is facially innocuous as well as any other expression of religious identity associated with the group."

The judge did NOT order the prison to provide, nor even allow, the 5%ers to have certain items and activities that were not allowed to other religious groups or were considered unsafe by prison officials, but it did recognize that the inmates have a right, on par with adherents of other religions, to congregate for the purpose of religious study and to have contact with its religious institutions outside the prison, consistent with the general security policies of the prison.

Hardly as outrageous as the NY Post describes.

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