What is the campaign about?

The demand to support our Muslim brothers and sisters in prison is growing exponentially from the county and state prisons. Muslims make up 10% of the U.S. prison population and rapidly growing, mainly due to internal conversion, despite being only 1-2% of the U.S. population. This means that we are in need of funds to help cover the expenses of facilitating education and meet the cost of supplies. We must grow the project in order to meet the needs of our community.

Qur'an & Hadith

"They feed the needy, the orphan and the prisoner for the love of Him (God)." -Quran: Surah Al Insan (76:8)

`Abdullah bin `Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim. So he should not oppress him nor should he hand him over to an oppressor. Whoever fulfills the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs; whoever removes the troubles of his brother, Allah will remove one of his troubles on the Day of Resurrection; and whoever covers up the fault of a Muslim, Allah will cover up his fault on the Day of Resurrection". [Sahih Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Who are we?

Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Council for Social Justice (CSJ) Muslim Prisoners Support Project (MPSP)  main objective is to support Muslim inmates in detention and correctional facilities by providing them with prayer services, Islamic education, equipment/supplies, and resources to ensure that they are given their full rights and are treated in a civil manner.  Muslims make up 10% of the U.S. prison population and rapidly growing, mainly due to internal conversion, despite being only 1-2% of the U.S. population.

How does the Project Work?

In order to meet our objective, we must:

• Communicate with the facility to figure out the needs of the facility.
• Communicate with the masajid to find local volunteers and receive support for the project. All facilities and masajid have their own process and goals and therefore we must figure these processes and goals on a masjid/facility case by case.
• Work with other Prison Support initiatives to share information and resources.

We are transparent on everything, share all information and encrypt/restrict any sensitive information. Everything is written down and well documented. Organization and process structure is crucial to the project in order to maintain longevity. We have a event calendar, weekly conference call (optional), weekly emails sent out, logs going back to the beginning of the project, etc.

What makes us stand out?

We do not ask for recognition. We do not reinvent the wheel and we always share our resources with others. We work with all of our brother and sister organizations and individuals out there who are doing the same thing we are or within our field. We work with Muslim organizations and non-Muslim organizations where needed. We are partnered with: 

• ​Muslim Advocates
• Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
• Link Outside. [See LaunchGood Campaign]
  
• Bury Me Muslim
• Succor Transitional Program (STP)
• Tayba Foundation
• Muslim Chaplain Services of Virginia
• Coalition for Justice/Virginia Prison Justice Network (VAPJN)
• Furqaan Project
• More to come as we continue to grow in shaa Allah.

Highlights (Growth in the Past Year)

• ​We've grown from supporting 3 facilities to 9. With our friends from LinkOutside, that number goes to 16 (sharing resources).
• We have successfully raised money and provided prayer rugs, hijabs and Qur'ans for all the prisoners in DC prison (around 500 Muslims).
• Since last year, we've been able to partner with 6 additional organizations, each providing real services and value to our cause.

Visit our website for more information: http://icnacsj.org/mpsp/