Italy’s Catholic Church Endorses Muslim Prison Chaplains Amid Spike in Jihadi Inmates

Bishops turn blind eye as Italian jails turn into hotspots for Islamic evangelism and radicalization

In a historic first, Italy’s government and the Catholic hierarchy have opened the doors for Muslim chaplains to serve officially in Italian prisons, despite fears that an Islamic chaplaincy could fuel increased radicalization of Muslim prisoners.

Imam Dahmane Abdullah Tchina, who was appointed to the Beccaria Juvenile Penal Institute in Milan last week, has become the first Muslim chaplain to minister in Italy’s prison system. The imam will work alongside Catholic chaplains Fr. Claudio Burgio and Fr. Gino Rigoldi. On July 7, the Milan archdiocese announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Public Prosecutor and the President of the Juvenile Court of Milan, permitting the imam to work in the prison system.

Burgio and Rigoldi, both from the archdiocese of Milan, have been advocating for a long time for an imam to lead Friday Muslim prayers and to foster interreligious dialogue, the statement on the archdiocese’s website noted.

Tchina will serve not only “as a religious figure, but also as an educator” to “rebuild a foundation of values for these minors, rediscovering a fatherly figure with a view to redemption and a chance for their growth,” said Monsignor Luca Bressan, episcopal vicar for the archdiocese.

Warnings Against Muslim Chaplains

But Riccardo De Corato, former deputy mayor of Milan and a member of parliament for the conservative Fratelli d’Italia party, warned that this is “another incredible decision by the judiciary, which goes against common sense.”

“Placing an imam in a place full of ‘maranza’ [slang for young thugs] like Beccaria is wrong. Are we trying to rehabilitate them?” De Corato asked. “It would only worsen an already serious situation, causing further problems and inconvenience to prison guards.”

Tchina sparked controversy in May after preaching to children from two schools in northern Milan. Mayor Roberto Di Stefano and Member of the European Parliament Silvia Sardone accused Tchina of indoctrinating the children when he told them that jihad or “holy war” is legitimate if it is defensive.

At the end of the meeting, one of the students asked: “Why do women wear the veil?” The imam then turned the spotlight on Sabrina, a member of the local Islamic center, who replied: “God commanded it. If someone is Muslim, they follow everything he said.

“There are women who don’t wear the veil and are Muslim, but it was prescribed. Even Mary wore the veil, right? God told us to wear it,” Sabrina added, failing to mention that most Islamic scholars believe that neither the Qur’an nor the Hadith make the face-covering mandatory.

Islamic scholar Robert Spencer, who has written 25 books on Islam and the Middle East, said the move is irresponsible.

“After prisons have become hotbeds of jihad preaching and recruitment in Britain and elsewhere, the Italian bishops should know better,” he told The Stream. “They assume that Islam is a religion of peace, and that therefore these imams will preach peace in prisons and have a salutary effect.

“In reality, many of these chaplains will certainly have connections to jihad groups and make prisoners even more inclined to jihad activity than they were before. This is a classic example of how erroneous assumptions lead to wrong and self-defeating actions. The Catholic Church used to be keenly aware of the power of false ideas, but such thinking is considered passé now.”

Muslim Inmates Flood Italian Prisons

A staggering 87% of Beccaria’s prison inmates are from Islamic countries, and 227 of the 297 inmates are foreigners, according to prison statistics for 2024.

There are more than 10,000 known Muslims in Italy’s prisons, but that’s probably a low estimate, noted Imam Hamdan Al-Zeqri, the national delegate for relations with the Department of Penitentiary Administration and Prisons. Many inmates prefer not to identify themselves as Muslims. The Italian Institute for International Political Studies reports in its essay “Jihadist Radicalization in Italian Prisons: A Primer” that Italy’s Muslim prison population could be as high as 20%.

Muslims in prison are significantly over-represented relative to the country’s overall population in Western nations: in the US by a factor of 3; in Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK by a factor of 4; and in France by an estimated factor of 10.6, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence found.

However, a pamphlet released by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Justice warned of “influence by prison imams who are themselves radical, who consciously or unconsciously spread radical thoughts.”

A 2015 agreement between the Department of Penitentiary Administration and the Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy already permits around 25-40 volunteer Muslim chaplains to serve prison inmates in prisons all over Italy.

Inmates Radicalized in Prisons

In 2018, Imam Mohammed Yusuf Ahmed, a Muslim chaplain in England’s Brixton Prison, orchestrated the sacking of the Christian chaplain, Pastor Paul Song, who had served the inmates there for 20 years.

Ahmed, a new senior chaplain, falsely claimed that Song’s programs on Christianity, which included the mainstream courses Alpha and Just10, were “too radical.” Song was reinstated after Christian Concern launched a legal review against the ban of his ministry.

“Pastor Song had exposed Islamic extremism in the prison. The Imam vowed to change what he called the ‘Christian domination’ in the prison,” Tim Dieppe, head of public policy at Christian Concern and author of the book The Challenge of Islam: Understanding and Responding to Islam’s Increasing Influence in the UK, told The Stream.

“Pastor Song had been threatened and racially abused by Muslim prisoners and had his Bible classes disrupted by Muslims chanting support for the killers of Lee Rigby (a soldier killed by jihadis in 2013). He was forced to hold prayer meetings in a prison cell because the Muslim chaplain refused to let him use the prison chapel,” Dieppe said.

According to the Italian Catholic website The New Daily Compass, Italy’s secret services have repeatedly confirmed in their annual reports that the nation’s prisons can now be considered, in all respects, places of radicalization.

A 2018 study conducted by King’s College London, which analyzed the profiles of 79 European jihadis, concluded that a third of them had been introduced to Islam while in prison.

Dr. Jules Gomes (BA, BD, MTh, PhD) has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.