US Muslim groups want Conn. jails probe

NEW LONDON, Conn., March 22 (UPI) -- Four U.S. Muslim groups want a probe into alleged racial, religious discrimination in Connecticut state prisons.

The four groups have prepared a joint letter to Connecticut Commissioner of Correction Theresa Lantz but want other bodies to join them in signing it before they formally present it next week, The Day newspaper reported Wednesday.

The newspaper said the groups were acting after The Day published a story Saturday saying that a photograph of Bilal Ansari, the Muslim chaplain, or imam, at J.B. Gates Correctional Institution in Niantic, Conn., had had a racial epithet scrawled over it last month. The Connecticut Department of Correction has called in the state police for a criminal investigation, the report said.

Abdullah T. Antepli, coordinator of Islamic Chaplaincy & Interfaith Relations for the Hartford Seminary, told the newspaper that the Connecticut Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut, the Berlin Mosque and the Harmony Foundation had signed the protest letter.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg on this racial issue," Antepli said. "This is not an individual unique incident. This is systemic."

The Day reported that at least four of 18 Muslim chaplains working within the Connecticut Department of Correction had already made charges of racial and religious discrimination. "Three have filed, or are in the process of filing, complaints with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities," the newspaper said.

"Bilal's case is not unique, not individual at all. We have had people say to them, 'Oh, I hope you are not going to bomb us today.' Or, 'How is Osama Bin Laden?' As if they are buddies. They are subjected to constant humiliation," Antepli told The Day.

"It seems that this discrimination comes from fellow staff and upper management and is tolerated, perhaps even propagated, on every level," the letter states