Islam in the British Prison Service

Now here's an interesting view on how a predominantly christian country handles a sharp rise in prisoners from another religion. All in all, while the author says that good stuff has happened, there is still much to do because the muslim prisoners are still not treated at par with christian prisoners. Happy reading.

I am also taking the liberty to quote the entire conclusion as it makes worthwhile reading

Conclusion
The prison institution is one where Islam is becoming institutionalised to a greater degree than in mainstream society. The PS is in fact pioneering the institutionalism of Islam far ahead of other institutions in Britain. This phenomenon was initiated almost by stealth through ad hoc local arrangements. It was facilitated by the privileged status of religion and chaplains in the PS and generally happened when chaplains well disposed towards minority religions acted as brokers. Race Relations Policy, on the other hand, was introduced at a national level as a consequence of mobilisation, legislation, and policies in wider society. It then permeated down to local establishments. Both have made significant progress in the PS in keeping with the salience of race relations and Islam in the rest of society. However, the PS is unique in so far as its Race Relations Policy incorporates religion as a ground for discrimination while it is not included in the 1976 RRA. This has enabled minority faiths to benefit from the expansion of race relations legislation at every step of its development and considerably strengthened the establishment of Islam at national and local levels. A plethora of policy documents, mandatory instructions, and manuals illustrates this phenomenon. It remains to be seen to what extent this is translated into practice.


Abstract
This article examines the framework in British prisons, structuring ethnic and religious discrimination. In the first place it looks at policies and practices in prison institutions as they particularly concern populations of Muslim origin. These include dispositions pertaining to Islam and Muslim race relations, ethnic/race monitoring. These arrangements naturally do not stand alone but derive from and reflect policies and practices to be found outside in mainstream society and institutions in varying degrees. The article concludes that a noticeable institutionalisation of Islam is taking place in the Prison Service, ahead of other institutions but suggests that much room for improvement remains in the area of racism and discrimination.

By Danièle Joly, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, The International Journal of Human Rights, Volume 11, Issue 3 September 2007 , pages 307 - 326