(CBS) Each year, tens of thousands of inmates in the U.S. are converting to Islam while incarcerated. The latest installment of the “CBS Mornings” series “The State of Spirituality with Lisa Ling” explores why the faith is connecting with so many behind bars.
Converting to Islam in prison
Most days, Rami Nsour heads to his local post office to find his mailbox stuffed with letters from incarcerated people from all over the country seeking his spiritual guidance and Islamic education resources. Nsour is the founding director of the Tayba Foundation, the first organization in the U.S. to offer a distance-learning program in Islamic education to inmates.
“When we started about 15 years ago, that was the main need that we heard from Muslim prisoners,” Nsour said. “So, we developed this organization to fill that gap and that need.”
