Radical Islam an Issue in Prisons
The arrest of 3 men in an alleged terror plot has put the focus on religious instruction given to inmates in the state corrections system.
By Solomon Moore, Times Staff Writer
Islamic extremism is a potential danger in California's state prisons, but one that can be mitigated by closely monitoring inmates and carefully and consistently screening Muslim chaplains, say Muslim clerics, scholars and prison officials.
Federal investigators suspect that an Islamist prison gang, called Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh, or Assembly of Authentic Islam, may have links to three Muslim men recently implicated in a possible plot to attack National Guard Recruitment Centers in California.
One of the suspects converted to Islam while serving time at Folsom state prison.
Federal authorities are investigating Islamic radicalism in state prisons, and California Department of Corrections officials are facing a barrage of questions about the effectiveness of their Muslim chaplaincy programs.
The Corrections Department has a policy of hiring Muslim chaplains who are endorsed by an established board of Islamic leaders to minister to inmates. But in practice, each institution has wide latitude....
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-torrance20aug20,0,7045730.story?coll=la-home-local