Sammendrag
Rise of Muslim population in Europe has in recent years brought about an increase of Muslim inmates. This has resulted in many new challenges for a number of prison authorities across Europe. Some of the challenges related to this issue have been clash of cultures, religious requirements, and discrimination and, in some cases, radicalism among Muslim inmates. There is a lack of research related to these challenges in Norwegian prisons, although it has been conducted on a wider scale in other European countries. The aim of this research was to create an understanding of the situation of Muslim inmates in Norwegian prisons. This was achieved by answering the research questions through examining existing literature and qualitative research that was conducted in three high-security prisons in Norway. The analysis demonstrates how a selection of Muslim inmates constructed their religious identity in penitentiaries, before progressing towards discussing how they were facilitated to practice their religion in their respective prisons. There were some indications of possible outcomes of the policies various Norwegian prisons applied, in terms of accommodating Muslim inmates. The facilitation – or its lack – as well as discrimination, seemed to contribute moderately towards the formation of the religious identities among many Muslim inmates. In some cases, the lack of accommodations and discrimination resulted in frustration and anger. Moreover, there were possibilities of radicalism among Muslim inmates in Norwegian prisons.