: Accomodating Islam In Prison: Where Is The Line Drawn?

There has been much debate lately over the rights that incarcerated Muslims (and there happen to be a lot of them these days) have to practice their faith. One set of guidelines in particular is drawing fire for asking for too many exceptions for Muslim inmates. The document, distributed by CAIR, asks that Muslims be allowed “incense and oil-based perfumes,” same-sex prisoner searches, taking a day off from work detail for Eid, and so on. Given the record of Muslim inmates causing less trouble than their cellmates, some sort of accomodation is merited. But when requests involve remodeling cells so that there is room to pray without being near a toilet, is it worth pursuing? After all, there is a reason they call it “prison.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.