Conversion to Islam in prisons

Conversion to Islam in prisons refers to the modern phenomenon seen in the Western world of a statistically high incidence of incarcerated criminal non-Muslims converting to Islam while in the prison system. In the decade preceding 2014, the number of conversions to Islam among prisoners in Western countries outpaced all other religions, with the overall imprisoned Muslim population (jailhouse converts to Islam plus inmates who entered the prison system as Muslims) growing as a result.

Although many prisoners find religion during their time in custody, the phenomenon of conversion to Islam in prisons is of particular discussion among academics, government and social services, as well as prison system authorities, due to the radical and extremist interpretations of Islam, rather than mainstream moderate branches of Islam, that some inmates are converting into.

Beyond whether or not many or most inmates converting to Islam in prisons are converting by force or coercion, a principal concern is if radical strains of Islam might be deliberately exploiting the prison system as a place for the specific recruitment of violent, anti-social criminal non-Muslim members of society for conversion to Islam.

Prisons, by their very nature, harbour a concentrated population of persons with predispositions to crime, violent personalities and anti-social behaviour.

By targeting prisons, radical streams of Islam can focus on a specific violent criminal subgroup of non-Muslims for their conversion efforts by appealing to the prospective convert's pre-existing negative traits. These negative traits are appealed to with a version of Islam that is violent, anti-social, and criminal not only by the standards of the surrounding non-Muslim host culture, but also by the standards of the majority of Muslims who follow mainstream moderate interpretations of Islam.

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