States Should Replace Prisons' Muslim Clerics

I write concerning your Feb. 12 editorial on Muslim clerics hired by Warith Deen Umar, a Muslim preacher banned from state prisons last week by state officials because of his extremist views.

During Mr. Umar's 20 years as administrative chaplain for the state Department of Correctional Services, he selected clerics who represented only one extreme sect of Islam known as Wahhabism, while excluding candidates from other Muslim denominations including moderate Sunni and Shi'a Islam. As a result, Shi'a inmates were ostracized and, in some cases, subjected to physical harm because of their beliefs. This flawed hiring process means that religious pluralism in the New York state prison system is a myth.

To rectify this situation, clerics hired by Mr. Umar should step down and Correctional Services should institute a fair and equitable hiring protocol that brings a diverse Muslim leadership into our state prisons. Clerics hired by Mr. Umar should be allowed to reapply for their positions. Only then will religious pluralism become a reality in New York state's prisons and the clerics themselves emerge untarnished by the taint of Mr. Umar's dangerous extremism.