Rashid Qawi Al-Amin can now rest easy. The prison library will now have Islamic books, CDs and DVDs available, thanks to his lawsuit which forced the prison to spend $2,500 on the materials and Al-amin was allowed to make the list himself.
Will anyone bother to look at what is being brought in, and will anyone ask about the contents and whether they contain jihadist or Islamist propaganda? Probably not, as that would be infringing on his right as a Muslim to read what he wants.
From PilotOnline May 15 by Tim McGlone
Al-Amin won a settlement with the state that forces the prison system to supply him, and the Greensville Correctional Center library, with Muslim reading materials, CDs and DVDs. He'll also receive $2,000.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's office decided to settle the seven-year legal battle after a series of court rulings in Al-Amin's favor. The state admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement but did agree to perform eight different acts to satisfy Al-Amin's claims.
The case highlights a trend among state and federal prisoners, many of them converted Muslims, fighting for their rights to practice their faith.
In 1989, Al-Amin, then known as Donald Tracey Jones, was convicted in Norfolk Circuit Court of murder and use of a firearm, and sentenced to 52 years in prison.
Police said the shooting was drug-related. Jones, a New York native, was in his early 20s at the time. He's scheduled to be released in 2016.
Not long after entering prison, he changed his name to Rashid Qawi Al-Amin, which in Arabic means "wise, strong and trustworthy." He says the prison system refused to acknowledge his new name.
Al-Amin became part of a swell of converts to Islam within America's prisons. Some joined the Nation of Islam while others chose the Sunni or Shia sects. Al-Amin became a Sunni. Corrections officials sometimes refer to the religion as Prislam.
Read it all
Will anyone bother to look at what is being brought in, and will anyone ask about the contents and whether they contain jihadist or Islamist propaganda? Probably not, as that would be infringing on his right as a Muslim to read what he wants.
From PilotOnline May 15 by Tim McGlone
Va. inmate's win in suit against government a rarity
Rashid Qawi Al-Amin succeeded where thousands of Virginia prison inmates before him have failed: He prevailed in a lawsuit against the government.Al-Amin won a settlement with the state that forces the prison system to supply him, and the Greensville Correctional Center library, with Muslim reading materials, CDs and DVDs. He'll also receive $2,000.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's office decided to settle the seven-year legal battle after a series of court rulings in Al-Amin's favor. The state admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement but did agree to perform eight different acts to satisfy Al-Amin's claims.
The case highlights a trend among state and federal prisoners, many of them converted Muslims, fighting for their rights to practice their faith.
In 1989, Al-Amin, then known as Donald Tracey Jones, was convicted in Norfolk Circuit Court of murder and use of a firearm, and sentenced to 52 years in prison.
Police said the shooting was drug-related. Jones, a New York native, was in his early 20s at the time. He's scheduled to be released in 2016.
Not long after entering prison, he changed his name to Rashid Qawi Al-Amin, which in Arabic means "wise, strong and trustworthy." He says the prison system refused to acknowledge his new name.
Al-Amin became part of a swell of converts to Islam within America's prisons. Some joined the Nation of Islam while others chose the Sunni or Shia sects. Al-Amin became a Sunni. Corrections officials sometimes refer to the religion as Prislam.
Read it all
1 comment:
I see a prison system wearing their blinders...Again!
If gangs can flourish in a prison system, why not jihadist. That's what I call equal opportunity! Now if we could only get them to fight amongst themselves...
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