‘Oh you’re on our side, you’re my brother’: occupational ontology and challenges for Muslim prison officers in Europe

Quraishi, Muzammil and Wilkinson, Matthew 2023. ‘Oh you’re on our side, you’re my brother’: occupational ontology and challenges for Muslim prison officers in Europe. Contemporary Islam 17 , pp. 411-431. 10.1007/s11562-023-00526-9

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Abstract

Filling a significant gap in prisons research, this paper articulates the experiences and perspectives of a group of Muslim prison officers interviewed as part of an international study examining Islam in prison. These Muslim prison officers occupied a precarious occupational cultural space between Us (prison officers) and Them (Muslim prisoners) which presented both risks of exclusion, religious and racial prejudices and opportunities to build bridges between prisoners and staff and to educate, especially in the dimension of religion. The very presence of Muslim prison officers in prisons challenged traditional occupational cultural stereotypes around both prison officers and Muslims. The disproportionately large numbers of Muslim prisoners in Europe and the haphazard way that Muslim prison officers often encounter the profession, suggest both that better training focused upon Islam in prison for existing prison officers is vital and that more directed recruitment of Muslim prison officers is needed.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	1872-0218
Funders:	Dawes Trust
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 May 2023
Date of Acceptance:	14 April 2023
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2023 14:56
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159496

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