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If You’re Muslim in Tennessee Prisons, You’ll Have to Pay Up - Why do Islamic prayer beads cost four times more than a rosary? (prisonjournalismproject.org)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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In Tennessee state prisons, practicing Islam is expensive.

A Bible here costs $5.45, while a Quran goes for $7.25 — even though it has fewer pages. The rosary used by Catholics sells for $1.65, while Muslims are charged $6.95 for prayer beads. And a satin kippah associated with Jewish adherents costs less than half of a Muslim kufi head covering.

In state and federal prisons in the U.S., about 9% of people identify as Muslim. Whether intentional or not, prisoners tend to have fewer options to purchase Islamic religious items than non-Islamic items, and the ones they can buy often cost more.

At the time of publication, the Tennessee Department of Corrections had not responded to a request for comment for this story.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250618120453/https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2025/06/10/religious-items-in-prisons-cost-more-for-muslims/

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[–] too_high_for_this@lemmy.world 41 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I was curious about the author so I googled him and his story is wild.

Arrested for armed robbery at 18. Did ten years in state prison where he started writing for a prisoners' rights newsletter. After release in 1999, he became a prominent activist, even advising the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2015.

Then he was caught breaking in to a prison that was under construction and hiding guns and tools in the walls, doing $250,000 worth of damage. He claims they were for his own use, to prevent being raped if he is sent to prison again. Cops also found assault rifles, body armor, and a grenade launcher in his home.

So now he's doing 40 years for felony vandalism.

Oh, and he has articles about throwing poop and farting etiquette