Author: Giraldus Cambrensis
Publication: FaithFreedom.org
Date: October 31, 2006
URL: http://www.news.faithfreedom.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=618
News from NewIndPress, Gulf Daily News and
Associated Press via the Daily Times and the International Herald Tribune
reports that a study of prison populations in India has shown that there are
disproportionate numbers of Muslims behind bars.
The information comes in a document published on Sunday, extracted from a
review of an Indian government study of Muslim welfare by the Justice Rajinder
Sachar committee. India's population is 84% Hindu, and the remaining population
is 13% Muslim and 2.4% Christian. Yet prison statistics show that this ratio
is not preserved in India's jails.
There is no breakdown of the nature of the
crimes for which Muslims are incarcerated. 102,652 Muslims are in jail, and
the majority are NOT imprisoned for terrorism. 12 states with sizeable Muslim
populations were asked to submit figures, but four states - West Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh - have not responded. West Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar have the fewest Muslims in government employment.
The states with the most disproportionate
amount of Muslims in jail are Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala.
In Maharashtra, Muslims account for 10.6%
of the general population, yet they comprise 32.4% of the prison population.
For those incarcerated on terms of less than a year, the figure rises - 42%
of prisoners on short-term sentences in the state are Muslim.
In Gujarat, where Muslims account for 9.06%
of the populace, they account for 25% of all prison inmates.
Assam has the second-highest number of Muslims
in its population (Jammu & Kashmir state has the highest), at 30.9% of
the general populace. Yet in this state, there are fewer Muslims in jail -
28.1%.
Karnataka state has a general population comprising
12.23% Muslims, yet its jail population is 17.5% Muslim.
There are debates about the causes of this
discrepancy between the populations of Muslims in society and in prison. The
Justice Rajinder Sachar committee notes that in urban areas, Muslims living
at the poverty level account for 44% of the urban poor, compared to the national
figure of 28%.
The argument that Muslims are poor, and also
picked on, is put forward by former MP Syed Shahabuddin, of the Muslim organisation
Majlis-e-Mushawarat. He compared their situation to African-Americans in the
United States. He noted that Muslims are well-represented in lowly jobs, and
have few openings in formal occupations.
He said: "What are they supposed to do?
They, therefore, end up in police stations more frequently and get involved
in things they should not be involved in. It's like the African-Americans
in the US. Their proportionate share in jails is much more than their population
share. With less opportunities, crime is a vocation." He also blamed
the police for their bias.
It appears that the Indian government is doing
its own hand-wringing, and yet its statistics do not demonstrate a disproportionate
amount of imprisoned Muslims anywhere near as extreme as those from France.
France, frustratingly, is too politically
correct to keep statistics based on ethnicity, race or religion. Therefore
the estimates of Muslims within the general population range from 6 to 9%
of the total. Yet in jails, the amount of Muslims are estimated to be between
60 and 70% of the prison demographic. The majority of French Muslims in jail
are said to be from North Africa.
According to the Jamestown Foundation, Farhad
Khosrokhavar of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, estimated
that between 50% and 80% of French inmates are Muslims. He also noted in 2004
that there were only 69 imams in French jails, compared to 500 Christian pastors
and 84 rabbis.
In Britain, the population of Muslims is estimated
at 3% of the total, but with illegal immigration, this figure could be higher.
A report by the UK Prison Service noted that since 1993, the number of Muslims
in British jails increased threefold over a ten-year period. In March 1993,
there were 2,106 Muslim prisoners. In June 2003 there were 6,136.
In June 2002, the prison population of Muslims
was 7% of all male prisoners (more than twice the national percentage) and
3% of all female prisoners (the same as the national average).
The latest figure for total prison population
in Britain (27 October 2006) in Britain is 73,144 males and 4,605 females,
though this figure is not broken down by religion. The system is close to
breaking point.
In Scotland, the proportion of Muslims in
the community is small. A government study (pdf format) from 2003 stated that
out of a total population of 5,062,011 people, there were 42,557 Muslims.
This figure included 31,793 Pakistanis and 1,981 Bangladeshis.
Therefore, 0.8% of the population of Scotland
is Muslim. A UK government report from August this year states that 1.3% of
the Scottish prison population (89 individuals) defined themselves as "Muslim".
In Italy, the percentage of the prison population
that is Muslim is 14%, according to 2005 figures.
Poverty is no excuse for crime. And claiming
police prejudice in a country like Britain, where the police seem fearful
to hurt Muslim feelings, seems a weaker excuse. One suggestion has been made
to account for the large Muslim prison population in Britain by Dr Basia Spalek
and Salah El-Hassan of the Institute of Applied Social Studies, University
of Birmingham. They argue that conversion to Islam while in prison accounts
for the presence of some of the Muslims in prison. At Feltham Young Offenders'
Institute, there have been incidents of forced conversion to Islam.
In France, Muslims are ripe for conversion.
in 2004 it was said that prisoners in French jails can spend 21 hours locked
in their cells. In June, the French General Intelligence Agency (Renseignements
Generaux or RG) stated that 175 militant Muslims were preaching to others
in French jails. They were mostly already from "Muslim backgrounds"
already, but had adopted the extreme fundamentalism of the Tablighi Jamaat
or Salafists.
In Belgium, the influence of radical Muslims
proselytising in jail led in September to the director of the Belgian federal
police force, Glenn Audenaert, suggesting that such prisoners should be contained
in a segregated jail. In Australia, Aboriginal prisoners have been targeted
for Islamic conversion.
In the United States, an estimated one third
of all African-American prisoners are Muslim converts, following in the traditions
of Malcolm X or Imam Jamil Al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown). A study by the
US Department of Justice from April 2004 revealed that 6% of the 150,000 federal
inmates are Muslim. This is higher than the 1.5% of the general population
who profess Islam. The whole US Department of Justice report, entitled "A
Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Selection of Muslim Religious Services
Providers", can be downloaded in pdf format HERE.
In California, the state Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation confirms that of 166,000 inmates in the state, about 10,000
of these are Muslim. The majority of these are Sunni Muslims. This too coincides
with the 6% figure found in the rest of the general prison population.
In America, as in Europe, there is a problem
with the spread of radical Islam within penitentiaries. A recent 38-page document,
published in September by the Homeland Security Policy Institute of George
Washington University, entitled "Out of the Shadows: Getting Ahead of
Prisoner Radicalization", can be downloaded in pdf format HERE.
There is another possible reason for the spread
of Islam in jail, which would also explain why so many Muslims end up in jail,
compared to other citizens. Irrespective of the bleeding-heart liberal excuses
of low achievement and poor opportunities, no researchers have stated the
obvious and unifying factor - Islam, and its belief that "kaffirs"
are inferior. If one dehumanizes non-Muslims, it is easy to see them as targets.
As Mohammed himself (in Sura 8 - the "spoils of war") engaged in
caravan raids and also acts of violence - what better example is there to
legitimize one's progression through life by "raiding" from shops,
automobiles and citizens?
Giraldus Cambrensis of Western Resistance