Muslims in the U.S. Prison System: Demographics and Litigation

In today’s episode of Deep Dives with ISPU,  Executive Director, Meira Neggaz, sits down with SpearIt, former ISPU Scholar and current professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh, to discuss a unique aspect of American Muslim life: Muslims in the U.S. prison system.

Released in August of 2023, SpearIt’s new book, Muslim Prisoner Litigation: An Unsung American Tradition, explores how incarcerated Muslims have historically and currently used legal action to exercise their rights to religious freedom and improve the conditions of their incarceration. Meira and SpearIt discuss the intricacies of prisoner litigation, as well as the demographics of Muslims in prison, how Muslims in prison have contributed to culture and social progress, and much more.

Note:  Early in this episode, the number '1 million' is used to reference the number of adult American Muslims in the United States. The correct statistic is there are an estimated 2.15 million Muslim adults in the United States. In ISPU's research, when referencing the number of Muslims in the United States, we reference a 2017 demographic portrait from Pew Research Center. This portrait cites that there are an estimated 3.45 million Muslims in the United States, including 2.15 million Muslim adults. The link to the Pew survey can be found in the show notes of this episode. The link to this Pew survey can be found here:  https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/07/26/demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/

Resources related to this episode:

• Get SpearIt's book, Muslim Prisoner Litigation: An Unsung American Tradition
  • University of California Press
  • Amazon
• Learn more about SpearIt: https://www.law.pitt.edu/people/SpearIt
• Pew Research Center: Demographic portrait of Muslim Americans (2017)