ABSTRACT

Most of the information concerning the spread of the faith of Islam in North American penal institutions is of a rudimentary and anecdotal nature. However, since post 9/11 terrorism events there is now a growing body of scholarly research on the subject of faith-based prison rehabilitation showing conversion to Islam is a hard core reality among prison inmates, especially African-Americans. This chapter first gives a brief history of the Muslim immigration to the United States of America and then discusses the dynamics of Islam’s spread in American penal intuitions.