SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 2010
KLMNO Scant support for growing Muslim population in Va. prisons chaplains from C1
maintained contracts only with Protestant chaplains. Catholic, Jewish and Muslim chaplains could visit correctional facilities to minister to Virginia’s 32,000 inmates, but they received no funds from the state. “The department has been liv- ing in the past. No other state in the country is so far behind the curve,” said Larry Coleman of the American Correctional Chaplains Association. Then, last July, the Department of Corrections issued its first sub- contract to a non-Protestant group: a $25,000 award to Mus- lim Chaplain Services of Virginia. “After years of work, our exis- tence was finally acknowledged,” said Goraya, 62, a retired engi- neer who has been volunteering in Virginia prisons since 1999 and who recruits other chaplains by holding open houses at Rich- mond area mosques. (The De- partment of Corrections runs background checks on the chap- lains before allowing them to lead services behind bars.)
Still, the $25,000 contract
hasn’t been enough to hire a sin- gle full-time chaplain, he said, let alone combat the growing num- ber of Muslims who practice a muddled, sometimes radical, ver- sion of Islam behind bars. Al- though Goraya does not describe Virginia prisons as hotbeds of ex- tremism, several inmates have written to him in recent years about their plans to renounce their American citizenship and move to the Muslim world. “These are prime targets for al-
Qaeda recruiters,” said Goraya, who alerted prison authorities and wrote back to the inmates, urging them to reconsider. “Think of what you’re leaving
behind,” he told them. But he said he never heard back.
Monitoring threats
Goraya also worries about pris- ons that don’t get regular visits from a volunteer chaplain, citing as an example Green Rock Cor- rectional Facility in Chatham. Go- raya has been to the prison, 250
miles from Richmond near Dan- ville, just once and found the in- mates uninformed and suspicious of outsiders.
“If we could afford to send someone to the prison, we could win those guys over,” Goraya said. “Instead, we’re letting them learn from each other, and they grow more and more radical.” For their part, corrections offi- cials said they remain vigilant when it comes to Islamic radi- calism, relying on the Muslim chaplains and a newly created se- curity initiative to monitor threats. “The DOC is concerned about
radicalism of every type, and we have taken the step of developing a Secure Threat Group that spe- cifically monitors this type of threat, including gangs,” said Lar- ry Traylor, the department’s spokesman.
At Green Rock, aside from an incident in which Muslim in- mates complained about having to trim their beards, there have been no signs of a problem, Tray- lor said. Even after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Goraya’s effort to win support for Muslim chaplains was largely a one-man crusade. But recently, he’s found a number of allies who echo his concerns. A Senate Foreign Relations Committee report warned this year that 36 American Muslims who had been prisoners moved to Yemen in recent months and that several of them “dropped off the radar” and may have connected with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Pen- insula. In a separate report, terrorism
experts at George Washington University and the University of Virginia said: “In the absence of qualified Muslim religious ser- vices providers, inmates can be- come attracted to radical views and the politico-religious messag- es coming from other inmates.”
Navigating a gulf
Much of the work for Goraya and 15 other volunteer chaplains involves navigating the gulf be- tween guards and Muslim in- mates. It’s an agenda challenged
by the nature of prison-based Is- lam, in which inmates instruct one another about the faith, and most incarcerated adherents are converts.
When Muslim inmates com- plain that guards are not allowing them to pray, Goraya addresses those concerns with the warden. Meanwhile, Muslim inmates
sometimes claim they are not per- mitted to take orders from female prison guards. “Is that really a part of the reli- gion?” one prison employee asked Goraya, who shook his head, set- ting the record straight. “We’re here to preach moder-
ation to the extremists and to de- fend the needs of the moderate Muslims,” Goraya said. The biggest challenge to doing
that, he said, is the lack of re- sources. Although the $25,000 from the corrections department is a start, it is small compared with the $780,000 in state money that helps fund 14 full-time and 19 part-time Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal chaplains through the Chaplain Service Prison Min- istry of Virginia. Neither Catholic nor Jewish chaplains have sought funding from corrections officials. “My responsibility is to provide chaplains that are Protestant Christians,” said Cecil McFarland, president of Chaplain Service Prison Ministry. “We have a very good relationship with the Mus- lim chaplains . . . but my obliga- tion is to my ministry.”
Prayers and guidance
In early August, a week before Ramadan, Tamer Mohsen led prisoners wearing rolled-up den- im jeans and blue button-down shirts in prayer at the Powhatan prison. The men took to their knees on
donated prayer rugs. By tradition, they faced east toward Mecca, overlooking bars, brick and barbed wire.
“O you who believe,” Mohsen began in Arabic.
Ziyad Abdullah looked on, closed his eyes and recited the prayer in perfect Arabic. Born Robert Brady in Rich-
mond, he was sentenced in 1985 to life plus 10 years for killing a Muslim convenience store clerk. His path to repentance led him to the Koran. He learned Arabic. He sent letters to the victim’s fam- ily, detailing his conversion. They didn’t respond. But that didn’t stop Abdullah from growing more fervent in his faith. He started leading prayer sessions, lecturing others who were considering conversion. In three years, the Muslim
population in Powhatan has grown from 30 to 80, including converts and those born into the faith. The facility now houses as many practicing Muslims as it does practicing Christians, ac- cording to the prison’s full-time chaplain, the Rev. Bernard Mor- ris.
Some convert because being
part of the Muslim community provides a feeling of security, oth- ers because of the structure the faith provides. “Christianity wasn’t working for me, and I thought, ‘Why should that be my only option?’ ” said Nasir Dixon, born Antoine Dixon in Portsmouth. The growth of the faith caught
Morris, a Baptist, by surprise. “It’s been a real blessing to have the volunteer Muslim chaplains here to handle the increase,” he said. Toward the end of the prayer
service, security guards entered the chapel and signaled that it was time for the prisoners to re- turn to their cells. Mohsen turned toward his con-
gregation and bowed his head. The prisoners rolled up their prayer rugs and took turns shak- ing Mohsen’s hand and wishing him a happy Ramadan. He walked out the chapel doors, past a poster emblazoned with the words “Repent and be baptized,” headed toward the se- curity checkpoint and then across the parking lot to his car. “I never ask these guys why
they’re here. I don’t know if they are murderers or thieves,” Moh- sen said. “I just know that they’re faithful and sincere, and that they welcome me each time I come.”
sieffk@washpost.com
Malvo won’t count victims with police by Dan Morse
Imprisoned Washington area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo doesn’t want to discuss with detectives his recent claim that he and his partner shot more than 40 people during their cross-country ram- page eight years ago, a Mont- gomery County police official said. “Malvo refuses to meet with us.
We can’t make him meet with us,” Assistant Police Chief Drew Tracy said Friday. Malvo’s claims — discredited by many investigators — were aired several weeks ago on A&E’s new cable TV series “Aftermath With William Shatner.” In a
Va. Marine killed by gunfire in Afghanistan
by Martin Weil
Cody S. Childers, a Marine from Virginia, was wounded by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan about a month ago and spent four days in a hospital, his grand- mother said. After returning to combat with
renewed determination, the 19- year-old lance corporal from Chesapeake was hit by enemy gunfire, she said. This time, his wounds were fatal. He died Fri- day in Helmand province, the Pentagon said. “Our hearts are broken,” said
Peggy Ewell, the Marine’s grand- mother. “He’ll be so missed.” Ewell shared the thoughts of her daughter, Wendy Childers, the Marine’s mother: “She want-
PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Marines carry the remains of Lance Cpl. Cody S. Childers, 19, of Chesapeake, Va. Being a Marine fulfilled his boyhood dream.
ed him to be honored as a young man that loved the Marines, that loved his country . . . and was do- ing what he loved,” she said. The Marine also told his moth-
er that they “were making a dif- ference in Afghanistan,” Ewell said. Childers, a 2009 graduate of
Grassfields High School in Chesa- peake, wanted to be a Marine from boyhood, Ewell said. He re- ported for training last August
and deployed a little more than two months ago from Camp Le- jeune. The Pentagon said he was as- signed to the 2nd Marine Divi- sion in the II Marine Expedition- ary Force. Ewell said her grandson was a
“very outgoing, happy guy” and an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting and fishing. He and his father, Randy, “were hunting buddies.” In addition to his parents, his family included a brother, Ryan; a sister, Cassidy; a half brother, Chris; and a half sister, Stephanie Medina, Ewell said. A couple of days before her
John Kelly is away. His column will return. JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON
grandson left for Afghanistan, Ewell and her husband drove to see him and took him to a restau- rant in Morehead City, N.C. They would have bought him anything he asked for, she said. He wanted oysters, and oysters were what he had.
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phone interview with the former “Star Trek” star, Malvo had said he and his partner, John Allen Muhammad, shot 42 people in 2002. The pair previously had been linked to 27 shootings across the country, including 13 attacks, 10 of them fatal, in the Washington area in October 2002. Tracy earlier said he wanted to
examine the claims, in part to put them to rest if they were, indeed, the nonsense that many involved in the case considered them to be. “It’s obvious to me that, at this point in time, he doesn’t have anything useful to divulge,” Tracy said. Detectives will probably ap- proach Malvo again in a few months, he said.
Malvo, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, is serving a life sen- tence, with no parole, at Red On- ion State Prison, in Wise County, Va. Muhammad was executed in Virginia last year. He was 48. On the television show, a psy-
chiatrist said Malvo had told him about 42 shootings as well. Detec- tives contacted the doctor, who said he needs Malvo’s permission to discuss the case with them, Tracy said. Detectives have sought Malvo’s permission but haven’t heard back, Tracy said. Investigators have looked else- where to try to substantiate Mal- vo’s claims but have found no in- dication that he was involved in additional shootings.
morsed@washpost.com
ANIMAL WATCH
Bat hangs out in Old Town office
ALEXANDRIA, Patrick and
Duke streets, Aug. 12. The Animal Welfare League received a call about a bat a group of office em- ployees had found flying in their office when they had returned from lunch. They isolated the bat in an empty conference room, where it hid inside a light fixture. An animal control officer found the bat and put it in a container. After the officer examined the animal, which appeared healthy, it was released into the wild. Ani- mal-control officers said they have received nine other reports, in recent weeks, of bats getting into offices and homes in Old Town. None had rabies.
Among cases handled by the Animal Welfare League of Alex- andria
S
C3 ROBERT McCARTNEY
Defense cuts sound alarm to trim reliance on federal dollars
mccartney from C1
entering a less familiar and more competitive marketplace. They won’t benefit as much from geographic proximity to the capital. I’m not saying we should give
away a lot of tax dollars to lure companies to the Washington area. I am saying we should take steps to make the region more attractive to companies that might want to create jobs here, especially good-paying jobs in tech industries likely to grow over time. Three top challenges to address are traffic (big surprise), affordable housing and what’s called STEM education — training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The region has dragged its feet solving those problems, partly because the steady gush of federal dollars has made us complacent. “We have just sat back and assumed companies would come here because of the federal government,” said Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy. “When you don’t have to work so hard to get rich, you can get fat and lazy. This region is going to have to work harder to maintain its position.” Federal money currently accounts for 39 percent of the region’s economy. That’s up from 31 percent in 2000 but now is likely to fall in coming years. Some local businesses are already thinking about making the shift. Joe Brown, president of Accelera Solutions of Falls Church, said his high-tech company plans to step up its marketing and business development to find more work in the health-care and financial industries. He fears that federal in-sourcing could affect Accelera’s contracts with the Defense Department and other agencies, which account for about two-thirds of the company’s business. “It certainly is a major concern
for us,” Brown said. “Nobody wants to lose a revenue stream.” Because one-third of his business is already in the private sector, however, Brown feels more fortunate than his many peers among Northern Virginia high-tech companies who rely almost entirely on federal dollars. “They’re extremely nervous,
and they’re trying to fight these in-sourcing plans,” he said. “They believe that to a certain extent that they will retract a bit and have to search out other avenues.” It’s conceivable that political pressures will force Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to scale back his plans, which include 10 percent annual cuts for three years in funding for private contract employees and shutting the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk. Virginia’s governor, Robert F.
McDonnell (R), and its senators, Mark Warner (D) and James Webb (D), have called for a full explanation and cost-benefit analysis of the plans, and McDonnell has set up an emergency commission to study them. A House hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 29 at the request of Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.). But Gates says he doesn’t need congressional approval to make the changes. Kilberg, of the technology council, applauded the politicians’ efforts but conceded that “it will be very difficult to stop that train.” The region has been through
this before. The 1990s dot-com boom created so many jobs in private industry here that some people predicted Washington would no longer be the federal government’s “company town.” That’s not going to happen.
The federal government will be our largest employer and heart of our economic life for the foreseeable future. But we can’t rely so much on the public sector to drive our growth, and we’ll all benefit if we make it easier to drum up more work from the private side.
mccartneyr@washpost.com
LOTTERIES August 21
DISTRICT Mid-Day Lucky Numbers:
Mid-Day D.C. 4: Mid-Day DC-5:
Lucky Numbers (Fri.): Lucky Numbers (Sat.): D.C. 4 (Fri.): D.C. 4 (Sat.): DC-5 (Fri.): DC-5 (Sat.): Daily 6 (Fri.): Daily 6 (Sat.):
MARYLAND Mid-Day Pick 3:
Mid-Day Pick 4:
Night/Pick 3 (Fri.): Pick 3 (Sat.): Pick 4 (Fri.): Pick 4 (Sat.): Match 5 (Fri.): Match 5 (Sat.):
0-3-6 1-7-4-6
5-1-3-6-3 8-7-8 7-7-1
1-8-9-6 8-1-5-9
5-7-3-8-4 8-2-9-5-8
9-10-23-24-32-38 *30 6-7-17-25-27-36 *24
3-5-8
3-6-7-7 8-6-6 6-6-6
4-0-2-0 5-1-7-2
11-12-19-31-32 *9 16-17-21-32-36 *15
VIRGINIA Day/Pick-3:
Pick-4: Cash-5:
Night/Pick-3 (Fri.): Pick-3 (Sat.): Pick-4 (Fri.): Pick-4 (Sat.): Cash-5 (Fri.): Cash-5 (Sat.): Win for Life:
MULTI-STATE GAMES Powerball:
Power Play:
Mega Millions: Hot Lotto:
*Bonus Ball **Mega Ball
All winning lottery numbers are official only when validated at a lottery ticket location or a lottery claims office. Because of late drawings, some results do not appear in early editions. For late lottery results, check
www.washingtonpost.com/lottery.
5-2-9 7-9-9-1
14-18-26-30-31 8-7-7 N/A
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