Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
This essay is part of a volume that reflects on the 20-year anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. The work examines the impacts this event had on the management of Muslims in prison. Soon after the attacks, the culture war against Muslims in the United States began to seep into prisons, where Muslims faced heightened levels of Islamophobia, which cut across several areas of existence: the ability to access religious literature, religious leaders, and paraphernalia, in addition to the federal creation of Communication Management Units. There was also heightened hysteria about the idea of Muslim radicalization in prison, which culminated in no less than three congressional hearings about the dangers and national security risks posed by Muslims in prison. This essay examines these developments and argues that many of the discriminatory measures that were implemented were rehashed tactics employed by prisons in previous eras. As such, prisons had a blueprint for Muslim discrimination, much of which was recycled in the post-9/11 era.
Recommended Citation
SpearIt,
9/11 Impacts on Muslims in Prison,
27
Michigan Journal of Race & Law
101
(2021).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.pitt.edu/fac_articles/510
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Islamic Studies Commons, Law and Race Commons, Litigation Commons, Religion Law Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons