“And feed with food the needy, the orphan and the prisoner, for love of Him.” Quran 76:8 

The Prophet (SM) said, “Free the captives, feed the hungry and pay a visit to the sick.”

Ibn ‘Abbas said, “The Prophet (SM), was the most generous of people, and he was even more generous during Ramadan when Jibril met him. Jibril used to meet him every night in Ramadan until it was over and the Prophet would go through the Qur’an with him. The Messenger of Allah was more generous with good things than the blowing wind.”

In the criminal justice system discrimination has led to disproportionate numbers of young Muslim men and women in prison and young offender institutes. This not only ruins individual lives but affects family members, especially when a breadwinner is imprisoned. The Lammy Review found evidence of differential treatment. For example, analysis of sentencing data from 2015 shows that at the Crown Court, BAME defendants were more likely than White defendants to receive prison sentences for drug offences, even when factors such as past convictions are taken into account.

Such discriminatory practices have led to a disproportionate rise in young Muslim men in the criminal justice system with the number doubling over the past 10 years. Muslim communities roughly make up 5% of the general population in England and Wales, yet they make up 15% of the prison population.

Muslim prisoners have a difficult time practising their faith in prison and this is made worse by the sense of isolation from the Muslim community and their friends & family. Various reports have highlighted the discrimination that exists within the criminal justice system and how this particularly manifests itself if you are Muslim. Lack of halal food, inadequate prayer facilities, difficulty in managing fasting as well as discrimination from other prisoners are just some of the issues faced by Muslim prisoners. Prisoners face various levels of racism/Islamophobia and often find themselves being abused or taken advantage of by prison staff. Many Muslim prisoners have reported that they were banned from Friday prayers for minor infractions as if practising their faith was a privilege like watching TV. Racism for many young Muslim men had become normalised, and usually described as “banter”:

“In prison different members of the group described receiving racist abuse from prison officers and a general cultural incompetence on the part of the prison. This ranged from being on the receiving end of “racist banter”–“how come you’re wearing a condom on your head today?” – which, on occasion, provoked serious incidents, to a lack of cultural sensitivity and knowledge, such as selling prayer mats to non- Muslim prisoners to use as rugs on the floors of their cells, not understanding a Muslim’s need for cleanliness and understanding the importance of prayer for observant Muslims.”