This essay was printed in partnership with the Prison Journalism Project, which publishes impartial journalism by jailed writers and others affected by imprisonment.
On February 8, 2022, about an hour earlier than the 6.30am morning depend, an announcement rang out over the loudspeakers at New Jersey State Jail (NJSP). It was an emergency code, a “Code 53,” indicating a medical state of affairs.
Situated in Trenton, NJSP is the state’s solely most safety jail for males. Most are serving lengthy sentences, many for all times. Earlier than New Jersey abolished capital punishment in 2007, NJSP was residence to the state’s demise row, therefore its nickname, “The Final Cease”. The jail at present consists of three massive compounds — West, North and South — and homes about 1,300 prisoners. Roughly 400 are Muslim. Aside from just a few dozen, the bulk are converts.
It was chilly that morning when the announcement rang by way of the PA system in 2-Proper, certainly one of 9 housing models within the West Compound, a Civil Warfare-era army complicated later transformed to serve its present objective.
I had simply gotten as much as clear the ground of my South Compound cell — a single-person, 8 by 7-foot (2.4 by 2.1-metre) cage — earlier than performing morning prayers. An extended steel desk runs throughout the size of 1 wall of my cell; adjoined to it are a stainless-steel sink and bathroom. The sunshine gray partitions are naked aside from an Islamic prayer calendar, a timetable that I comply with each day.
I work for the jail’s chaplaincy division and know that of the practically 120 males who reside on 2-Proper, greater than two dozen of them are from our Islamic congregation, which is among the many largest within the US jail system.
I instantly started to hope. Over time, I developed a behavior of praying every time emergency codes had been known as out. They’d change into frequent in these days. The COVID-19 pandemic was nonetheless raging, notably in prisons the place the virus has killed thousands of people. Due to the heightened environment of worry of demise through the pandemic, many Muslims at NJSP had begun to really feel intense nervousness about our closing rites, and what would occur to our our bodies if we died. Fuelling this unease was the information that some imprisoned males who died at NJSP had been cremated towards their non secular beliefs.
Shedding a brother
I had already misplaced one pal to the virus, so each time I heard a medical code, I braced for dangerous information.
This time was no completely different.
“Yo, Tariq, it was Mujahid on the code this morning,” shouted one of many longtime prisoners from my housing unit who labored on the within sanitation element as he returned from a garbage run.
Affirmation of the information got here from one other prisoner, a fellow Muslim who labored on the ice element hauling and filling baggage of ice for styrofoam coolers, which prisoners should purchase and use to refrigerate meals and drinks. Our brother, Gregory Williams, who glided by the identify Mujahid after changing to Islam, had died.
I first met Mujahid at concerning the time of my arrival at NJSP in August 2005, three years after I used to be arrested. I used to be 28 years previous after I arrived, and had identified him for the higher a part of twenty years. Mujahid had been in jail for greater than 40 years. He was an lively, beloved senior member of our Muslim jail congregation. He was one of many establishment’s oldest paralegals, or what some name a “jailhouse lawyer”, an imprisoned particular person, often self-taught, who helps fellow prisoners in varied authorized issues. He was a wholesome, lively, slender Black man identified for each his authorized work and handball recreation. He was 67 when he died.
I discovered the main points of what occurred later that morning within the North Compound Chapel from Martin “Poncho” Robles and Samuel who lived in Mujahid’s housing unit. The chapel serves prisoners of all religions and I work there as a clerk, helping with non secular companies, which incorporates placing collectively a month-to-month roster of various actions and offering prisoners with studying materials, amongst different duties.
The chapel is situated on the junction of the North and the West compounds, and alongside a hall resulting in the jail gymnasium and the recreation yard. Because of this, it’s a high-traffic space, and folks usually cease by the chapel to alternate or talk about information. A demise inside NJSP is huge information, and due to the continued unfold of COVID-19, the jail was seemingly all the time abuzz with dialog about somebody getting sick, being hospitalised or dying.
When Poncho and Samuel, who requested that solely his first identify be used on this article, got here by, I used to be sitting with Sheikh Jamal El-Chebli, supervisor of NJSP’s chaplaincy division and an worker of the New Jersey Division of Corrections (NJDOC), the federal government company accountable for the state jail system. Additionally current was Robert “Rafique” Rose, my fellow chaplaincy clerk and shut pal. Rose, a founding member of our congregation, is a well-respected septuagenarian elder and identified inside as “Sheikh Rafique”. (The time period “sheikh” is an Arabic honorific that can be utilized to confer with elders.) Tall and full of life, he has served greater than 40 years of a 75-year jail sentence.
Issues turned shortly
The day earlier than Mujahid handed away, Poncho and Samuel advised us he had been having issue respiration. One in every of his legs, the 2 reported, had swollen up the day prior to this, prompting a go to to the jail medical division. Later, Mujahid relayed to Poncho and Samuel that he had felt dismissed by the medical personnel and never taken severely.
The subsequent morning, at roughly 5:10am, a guard performed a daily prisoner depend. Poncho, whose cell was situated near Mujahid’s, heard him acknowledge the guard.
However then issues shortly turned. At 5:32am, Poncho stated, the nurse delivering morning medicines to prisoners within the housing unit discovered Mujahid unresponsive. The officer escorting the nurse instantly known as for the medical code. Quickly, medical employees arrived and pulled Mujahid’s physique out of his cell, making an attempt to resuscitate him for what Poncho known as “ half hour”.
“You would see his lifeless physique on the chilly flooring,” Poncho stated. Some males within the unit grew agitated – some had been murmuring whereas others yelled angrily. Unable to revive Mujahid, jail officers waited for the coroners to reach. Poncho stated he tried at hand the officers a sheet to cowl his physique however they didn’t take it. In my expertise, jail employees are sometimes reluctant to the touch a physique for worry of turning into entangled within the investigation that follows a demise. Ultimately, the guards introduced a standing display screen to defend him from view.
His physique lay there for about seven hours earlier than the coroner lastly pronounced Mujahid lifeless, Poncho defined. At that time, Mujahid’s “physique was positioned in a black physique bag and dragged away.” (I’ve not been in a position to verify the official explanation for demise.)
The information of Mujahid’s demise hit these of us who knew him arduous. Poncho stated he’s been “tousled” ever since he noticed his pal’s lifeless physique mendacity unattended for thus lengthy.
Upon studying what had occurred, Sheikh El-Chebli, Sheikh Rafique and I checked out one different and recited a verse from the Quran usually invoked in occasions of calamity or demise: Inna l’illah wa inna ilayhi rajioun. (Actually, to God we belong and really to Him we return.)
After they left, we talked about Mujahid, his service to the group and his beneficiant nature. In jail, such moments are cherished. They briefly ease the stifling feeling of imprisonment and isolation which burdens us all. In shared grief, we really feel held by our group and jail household.
However we quickly began to fret about Mujahid’s burial and closing rites. It was a surreal dialog; through the years, we had usually spoken with Mujahid concerning the topic. Mujahid had all the time tried to make use of his authorized experience to enhance the standard of life for our congregation, and specifically, had labored to safe closing rites for imprisoned Muslims.
Now, it appeared, his worst fears – not receiving these rites – may come to cross.
Burial and closing rites
Islamic beliefs dictate {that a} Muslim can’t be cremated; it’s thought of haram, a forbidden act. A Muslim have to be buried after a ritual tub known as ghusl and the masking of the physique with two white sheets or towels, often called kafan. A janazah, or funeral, is carried out earlier than burial.
For Muslims, the final rites are a closing farewell and non secular act carried out in response to sincerely held beliefs in life after demise, the day of judgement and heaven and hell. The burial procedures are due to this fact of important non secular significance.
Throughout my imprisonment, I’ve identified of Muslim prisoners who’ve died and not using a household keen or in a position to declare their our bodies. In some instances, these males had been buried with the assistance of Islamic communities outdoors, together with the Islamic Society of Central Jersey (ISCJ).
However at current, there doesn’t seem like a transparent prison-facilitated course of in place for prisoners to affect what occurs to their our bodies after they die.
The truth that so many Muslims inside are converts complicates issues. Arranging closing rites and legally establishing one’s burial preferences usually require buy-in from members of the family, who usually don’t settle for their cherished one’s choice to transform. In such a state of affairs, the one solution to override the needs of the instant subsequent of kin is to acquire what the state of New Jersey calls a “funeral agent”. This particular person is designated by the prisoner earlier than demise to deal with burial choices. However the course of for attaining a funeral agent will not be simple, and one is simply helpful insofar {that a} decedent, or his funeral agent, can afford the prices related to burials — a tall order for a lot of imprisoned individuals.
On the subject of our burial rites, we’re confronted with a black gap. We aren’t given the data we’d like concerning the means of securing these rites, nor do we all know if there’s a correct manner for imprisoned Muslims in New Jersey – many serving extraordinarily lengthy sentences – to make sure our burial needs are carried out. With out the company for Muslim prisoners to elect our burial preferences, we worry being cremated towards our non secular beliefs.
Preventing for a mechanism
The New Jersey Administrative Code accommodates the principles governing how state legal guidelines are applied. In response to the part on the burial or cremation of unclaimed bodies of prisoners: “An unclaimed physique shall be cremated the place it’s moderately believed that it could not violate the non secular tenets of the deceased inmate.”
Mujahid and different Muslim prisoners together with myself have tried to petition for and set up a mechanism inside NJDOC to make sure Islamic final rites for Muslim prisoners. These efforts embody complaints submitted by way of a proper channel for prisoners. Mujahid confirmed me letters he mailed to organisations together with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations and pro-bono attorneys requesting help, however nobody responded. Earlier than he died, he had additionally pursued a non secular discrimination lawsuit.
Prisoners have additionally petitioned to have the ability to submit a closing authorized will recording their needs to be buried in response to Islamic doctrine.
Having the ability to select is essential. With out such a mechanism, choices about what occurs to the physique after demise might fall to an unsympathetic member of the family or the state. NJSP authorities usually depend on a prisoner’s emergency contact kind to find out who’s contacted first a couple of demise and what to do with the physique. That particular person might refuse or be unable to say a physique as a result of monetary burden, non secular disagreements or any variety of different causes. Typically, they’re not alive.
Over time, jail chaplains have defined to me what they perceive occurs to the physique of a deceased prisoner. Usually, the physique is saved in chilly storage, often by the county’s medical expert officer. It’s thought of unclaimed if no funeral executor or member of the family is recognized and contacted.
At this level, inevitably, we’re pressured to ask: What then will occur to the physique? All we all know is that the state will resolve.
That is the query many Muslim prisoners requested after Mujahid handed away, as we anxious whether or not a member of the family would declare his physique. It’s additionally one I posed to Victor Lee, NJDOC’s non secular coordinator, when he visited the ability in 2022. He declined to remark.
With out a particular process to elect and assure our burial preferences, many people have no idea what’s going to occur to us once we die.
Final-ditch requests
In my time at NJSP, a minimum of three Muslims have been cremated as a substitute of being correctly buried. Their names are Rahim, Alim, and Talib. A fourth Muslim, Abdullah, was buried by his household as a Christian. These are the names the lads took on after changing to Islam.
I couldn’t verify the precise dates of every demise. Even years had been tough to trace down. My reminiscence, fellow prisoners, and different individuals who knew the lads acquired me solely this far: Abdullah died between 2006 and 2007; Rahim between 2011 and 2014; Talib between 2019 and 2021. Alim died in 2020. It’s arduous to explain to individuals on the surface the way in which time warps in jail, how the times, months and years mix collectively in a haze. I remorse the dearth of precision. These males had been my brothers, and I want I might let you know when precisely they died.
Within the instances of Talib and Abdullah, each had members of the family who refused to honour their burial preferences. For Alim, his household couldn’t afford burial, in response to a fellow prisoner who knew the household. (A typical Muslim burial can price about $6,000.) I’ve not been capable of finding something extra concerning the circumstances round Rahim’s cremation.
I knew every of those males ultimately or one other and discovered of their cremations by way of each shut acquaintances and previous and present jail chaplains. All had been members of our congregation. I might see them commonly throughout Friday prayers and at non secular lessons and occasions. Abdullah was a light-skinned man with thinning hair who had the look of a dishevelled arithmetic professor and spoke in a exact, calculated manner. He was an excellent paralegal and thought of by all to be a clever and caring man. Rahim, pleasant and outgoing, cherished to play playing cards and board video games. Talib had a silver beard and a tender, quiet manner. A longtime meals companies employee, he cherished to prepare dinner. Alim was a paralegal and a jail mentor. I had identified him since arriving at NJSP and he was a pricey pal of mine.
Each Talib and Alim had submitted self-made wills to varied jail departments declaring their burial preferences. Muslim prisoners right here usually resort to making a generic doc with paralegals which resembles a closing will. Some individuals have even had copies of those paperwork notarised by notary personnel organized by the jail and accepted by varied jail departments. (I’ve seen this occur, and I helped Talib fill his out.) For a lot of prisoners, these are a last-ditch try to safe some readability on their rites. It’s not clear what authorized significance these paperwork carry, or whether or not or how they had been consulted after the deaths of Talib and Alim.
NJDOC didn’t reply to questions supplied by Al Jazeera and the Jail Journalism Venture.
Loss of life by imprisonment
The nervousness about final rites stems largely from the truth that dying in jail within the state of New Jersey will or might be a actuality for a lot of prisoners, together with myself.
The state has one of many harshest sentencing schemes within the nation and among the worst racial disparities within the nation. In response to a 2022 report by the New Jersey Legal Sentencing and Disposition Fee, Black individuals account for 61 p.c of the jail inhabitants, and solely 13 p.c of the state inhabitants.
The report confirms what I’ve seen with my very own eyes. On the day I arrived at NJSP, I keep in mind entering into the mess corridor the place we eat and catching my first glimpse of the rows upon rows of steel tables, every desk with 4 stainless-steel stools melded to it. They had been overwhelmingly occupied by Black and Latino individuals. The white individuals I noticed might be counted on one hand. That is still the identical at present.
Previous to the abolishment of the demise penalty in New Jersey, I used to be one of many final prison defendants tried for capital punishment within the state. After the jury declined the demise penalty, I received a punishment of 150 years for a double murder, for which I keep my innocence. That successfully sentenced me to demise by incarceration. The common life expectancy of a New Jersey man is about 80 years. At 25 years of age with no prior run-ins with the regulation, I used to be given a sentence that might see me imprisoned for 70 years past the state’s common life expectancy. With one of many longest sentences on this state jail system, the prospect of demise behind bars is a real concern for me.
In contrast to others inside, I’m lucky to have a loving household. I’m a single man with no youngsters, however I’m blessed with loving dad and mom, a brother and sister-in-law and their two stunning youngsters. I even have just a few different kinfolk and constant associates who’ve supported me throughout my imprisonment. This help is invaluable each emotionally and financially.
Though I’ve saved a gradual job for about 17 years, it could be extraordinarily arduous to outlive with out my family members. My meagre jail wages can’t even cowl my phone charges. And there’s no assure that my family members shall be there after I meet my finish. Being away for a lifetime alienates prisoners like me from new family members who haven’t any connection to these of us serving life sentences. One other risk is that even when my household is round, there isn’t any assure that they’ll be capable to afford my burial prices.
If there was a transparent course of to state my burial needs, I might begin now to try to make my very own preparations.
‘I don’t need to be burned’
The difficulty of ultimate rites stays a relentless supply of hysteria for a lot of Muslims at NJSP.
Throughout our many conversations at work within the chapel, Sheikh Rafique has usually expressed concern about this problem.
“Many older Muslim brothers are anxious about getting buried since most of their households have handed away and residing kinfolk don’t even know them. The NJDOC must make this course of a precedence,” Sheikh Rafique advised me shortly after Mujahid died.
Sheikh Rafique’s 90-year-old mom had handed away not too lengthy earlier than that, in late December of 2021. He was heartbroken. For years, she had visited her son virtually each Saturday — travelling on two trains from Newark, the place she lived, to the jail in Trenton — till her well being began to flag in her 80s. Sheikh Rafique advised me he felt blessed to have a loving household; even his siblings’ youngsters knew and cherished him. He wasn’t too anxious about them taking good care of him when the time got here, however he didn’t need to be a burden to anybody in his household when he left. Like different Muslims at NJSP, he wished he had a solution to make his personal burial preparations with an outdoor Islamic organisation or funeral parlour.
Marko “Abdul Mu’izz” Bey, one other fellow Muslim prisoner, got here to see our jail chaplain Sheikh El-Chebli and Sheikh Rafique for a counselling session just a few days after the demise of Mujahid. Bey, who’s in his mid-50s, had spent many years on demise row earlier than the demise penalty was banned, and appears to have resigned himself to dying in jail. When he visited the chapel, his mom had not too long ago handed away, and he was anxious to do one thing to safe his personal closing rites. “Man, they should determine this janazah stuff out, I don’t need to be burned, brother,” he confided.
One other Muslim prisoner, who’s serving a life sentence and requested to stay nameless, is scared one thing comparable might occur to him. “My household ostracised me for changing, and now I’m anxious that after I cross away they’ll both refuse to let me be buried as a Muslim or will refuse to say my physique and I shall be burned,” he confided. He had come to submit a self-made will to the chaplaincy division just a few weeks after the demise and cremation of Alim in 2020.
A Muslim burial
Ultimately, our jail chaplain Sheikh El-Chebli intervened to advocate for Mujahid’s burial rites. This isn’t usually a part of the job description.
The particular person on the emergency contact kind didn’t settle for Mujahid’s physique, however Sheikh El-Chebli efficiently situated his brother, his subsequent of kin, who’s a practising Muslim in Philadelphia. He accepted Mujahid’s physique.
After Mujahid’s demise, our group mourned. Many individuals got here to the chapel to discuss him and the help he had supplied us all around the years. It was straightforward, for a second, to think about us current on the surface, as if we had been visiting Mujahid’s residence to pay him the respects he so dearly deserved.
Practically one month after Mujahid died, Sheikh El-Chebli relayed to Sheikh Rafique and myself that Mujahid had been buried as a Muslim. We had been overjoyed. “Alhamdulillah!” we cried, turning to one another.
Mujahid’s case turned out the very best it might thanks to varied particular person efforts. However there stays no assure that we gained’t should endure an analogous trauma subsequent time a Muslim brother dies. When that occurs, our brother and our group might not be so lucky.
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