Muslim prisoners’ experiences in high security prisons

Wed 26 October 2016

King's College

This is an event organised to introduce research and ideas from the University of Cambridge’s Centre of Islamic Studies in an informal and relaxed setting. The talk will use prisons as a lens for exploring some of society’s greatest challenges today around security, religious freedoms, diversity, and the role of the state in responding to these challenges. It draws on findings from an innovative study in two English high security prisons, where the population of Muslim prisoners has doubled in the last decade. The talk will focus on recent changes in the prisoner population and specifically how Muslim prisoners experience, cope and adapt to imprisonment in different ways. Through an account of in depth fieldwork in prison and through the voices of prisoners, this talk aims to highlight the complexity of prisons as social communities. This talk represents research currently being undertaken in the Centre of Islamic Studies on the themes of belonging and identity among Muslims through the criminal justice system.

Cost: Free