After observing numerous instances of an outright denial or lackluster religious accommodations for Muslim inmates and detainees who wish to practice their faith, the attorneys at CLCMA developed a two-year fellowship project to address this issue. One part of this project was to create a handbook written with prison administrators in mind. This handbook provides a high-level historical context on three large sects of Islam, discusses aspects of Islam that regularly arise in prisons, and gives examples of how compliant prisons have accommodated requests and suggests accommodations where possible.
Because Islam is not the dominant religion in America, there are many misconceptions and misunderstandings about practicing Islam. CLCMA hopes that this handbook will take the first steps toward bridging this gap. In turn, we are hopeful that the information contained in this handbook will serve as useful information when prison administrators draft policies regarding religious accommodations.
We thank Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP for sponsoring our 2019-21 Equal Justice Works Fellow–Najmu Mohseen–which made the authoring of this handbook possible!
To download a copy of this handbook, CLICK HERE.
