Theoretical framework

Abstract

The subjects of Islam in prison and the lives of Muslim prisoners have hitherto been shrouded in ignorance and speculation. Islam in Prison sheds light on this damaging situation. It is a ‘one-stop shop’ which offers a comprehensive and practical account of Islam and Muslims in today’s European prisons to inform criminal justice professionals, journalists, academics and students of criminology and Islamic Studies and prisoners themselves. Derived from the largest academic study of Muslims in prison to date, with the participation of 279 prisoners and 70 prison staff from ten prisons in England, Switzerland and France, Islam in Prison gives an account of: how Muslims come to be in European prisons; who Muslims in prison are in socio-demographic and religious terms; the reasons why many prisoners choose to follow Islam in prison; the types of Muslim prisoner in European prisons; how the Worldviews of Mainstream Islam, Islamism and Islamist Extremism shape life in prison; the rehabilitative benefits and criminogenic risks of choosing to follow Islam in prison; and how Islam and Muslims are managed by prison authorities and the prison chaplaincy. Thereby, Islam in Prison documents the diverse, hopeful and occasionally harrowing experiences of Muslims in prison and shows how Islam in prison offers significant rehabilitative opportunities, as well as some Islamist risk.