Lisa Miller

The Wall Street Journal
9/07/1999, Page B1

Excerpts:

"...No longer simply the avocation of big-hearted church volunteers, prison ministry has become a sophisticated and competitive business. The new generation of ministers has moved beyond Bible study to recognize the seductive power of electric bands, celebrities, videotapes and glossy posters to lure captive men and women to God. In prison, religious volunteers 'do things like any advertiser' to win new converts, says Warith-Deen Umar, the Islamic-affairs specialist for the New York State Department of Correctional Services..."

"...And it's not only Christians who are stepping up their efforts. As Islam increasingly becomes part of mainstream America, Muslim organizations have grown more ambitious and organized about prison outreach. The Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, D.C., now sends about 100 Korans a month to prisons, and prominent imams, or spiritual leaders, in New York and Atlanta are making videos they send to prison. Associations of immigrant Muslims are sending volunteers to prisons to teach Arabic, and on feast days they're providing prison kitchens with ceremonial foods, like dates for breaking fasts..."

"...Muslims are using video, too. Fed up with the quality of educational materials available in the U.S. about Islam, most of which were decades old and translated badly from Arabic, an Annandale, Va., businessman named Muhammad Quadir several years ago began to produce 'Discover Islam' packets. They included easy-to- read pamphlets, glossy posters and a teaching video that stars Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon. He sent the packets to most of the county's 94 federal prisons. 'We really encouraged the chaplains to get them,' says Susan Van Baalen, chaplain administrator for the Federal Bureau of Prisons..."

"...The growth of Islam in U.S. prisons is creating anxiety among some Christian ministers. While the vast majority of inmates in the federal prison system are still Christian, the number of Muslim inmates has nearly tripled over the last six years to 6,500. During that time, the ranks of federal prisoners grew 50% to 112,000. And in some states, such as Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania, Muslims make up about 20% of the incarcerated population, according to the American Correctional Association. The Graterford maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania has a separate worship space for its 1,000 Muslims -- fully one-third of its population -- complete with sinks for ritual washing. "So Christian ministers are expanding their efforts in prison. Islam in prison is 'a threat to Christianity as it stands,' says Carl Ellis, who has a Christian ministry in Chattanooga, Tenn., that works with prisoners..."

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