Karim Mokhtari, a French-born civil rights activist, was 18 when he was sent to jail in the city of Amiens, south of Paris, in 1996. Fellow inmates, who described themselves as Salafists — adherents of an austere version of Islam shared by many in extremist movements — quickly approached him. He admired their inner strength and resilience, and under their guidance, Mokhtari converted to Islam. Before the group’s spiritual leader was transferred to another institution, he urged Mokhtari to “fight for Islam” upon his release, as Mokhtari recalled. This, he was told, would involve traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan for military training. “I had had enough of violence, and he was proposing more violence,” said Mokhtari. “I was able to say no, unlike many others.” Mokhtari’s story is the kind of account that sends a chill down many French spines. The notion that French citizens are being fanaticized on French soil is now widely accepted — the men involved in the recent Charlie Hebdo massacre and hostage-takings were all French nationals — and feared. Being Muslim in France is not always easy. The recent Paris attacks have led to Islamophobic incidents. Mosques have been desecrated with graffiti, and at least one, in the Alpine town of Aix-les-Bains, was partially destroyed by fire. Investigators have yet to determine if it was arson. Being Muslim in a French prison or jail is worse. Like other depressed, sometimes suicidal, inmates, it is not unusual for Muslim prisoners to seek help in religion. Researcher Céline Béraud recently interviewed 200 prisoners and 50 chaplains in eight prisons to understand how religion plays out behind bars. The University of Caen sociologist found that religion typically allowed prisoners to regain not only a sense of self-worth, but also the esteem of others. “But it’s not because people turn to religion that they become a danger for society,” Béraud cautioned in an interview.

Faith as a fortress

A turn to religion may be common among prisoners of all faiths, but a certain hostility to Islam in the wider society may intensify some Muslim prisoners attachment to their faith, according to Foudil Benabadji, a long-time jail chaplain who founded the mosque in Aix-les-Bains. Benabadji has argued in his books and public lectures that faith becomes a “fortress” for these prisoners, which leaves them more open to extremist interpretations. When reached by phone recently, Benabadji was standing outside the fire-damaged mosque he founded in Aix-les-Bains. The Algerian-born Benabadji recently turned 75, the age limit for chaplains in France, so he will soon have to stop his jail visits. Benabadji was incensed by the fire, adamant that it was arson. Mention of the hundreds of young French fighters returning from Syria turned his anger to outrage. “It makes me furious,” he roared. The Muslim community itself should do more to prevent this, he added. “Imams should talk about French secularism in mosques. What is secularism? It’s the respect of religion, of all religions, something we didn’t have in the countries where we come from.” He disputed the notion that prisons churn out extremists. But he admitted that some inmates are “full of prejudice and hatred.” He explained that as a chaplain his first task was to resolve their practical problems, the bane of day-to-day life in prison. Only then could he hope to tackle spiritual issues.

The numbers

Karim Mokhtari But how many Muslim prisoners ever meet bona fide Muslim chaplains? Mokhtari, recounting his incarceration in his book, said he first met a chaplain after six years in jail, shortly before his release. According to the latest Justice Ministry figures, of the 1,470 prison chaplains, only 178 are Muslim. It’s a difficult assignment. They cater to inmates from a diverse community with conflicting religious and political views. If many agree that more chaplains are needed, no one agrees on how many Muslims are incarcerated in France. About 60 percent, or 40,000 French inmates, are of “Muslim culture or religion,” according to a parliamentary report tabled in October by Guillaume Larrivé, a member of parliament with a conservative party known as the UMP, its French acronym. This percentage is only an educated guess because the French state does not collect statistics on religion for legal and historical reasons. Ingrained in the national consciousness is the knowledge that information once collected on religion was used to round up and deport Jews to German concentration camps. Experts also caution that this data is unreliable. How does one determine who is Muslim? In jail, the number of inmates who request halal meals, for example, fluctuates from day to day.

The politics