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The seven of us sit in a room in a maximum-security prison. I come and go weekly; they will be there for the rest of their lives. They tell me about their faith. One man has a calloused bump on his forehead, the result of his salat, bowing down to God, pressing his head into his rug, into the concrete floor of his cell: a dedication to prayer. \u201cAllah found me in my cell,\u201d\u009d he says. The other men nod their heads, even though they are not Muslims; they are Christians of various traditions: Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Jehovah\u2019s Witness. Yet each knows what it feels like for his God to find him in prison, regardless of profound differences in theological language and faith practices. When I\u2019m with them, I\u2019m within a religious pluralism unknown to me outside of prison.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In Down in the Chapel: Religious Life in an American Prison, Joshua Dubler explores this phenomenon of religious pluralism within U.S. prisons by spending time with the various faith communities that congregate in the chapel at the maximum-security prison in Graterford, Pennsylvania. From the chapel, Dubler tracks the religious practices of the faithful among the 3,500 men confined inside Graterford\u2019s walls. His book is a tapestry of scenes from worship services, small group discussions, and conversations with imprisoned men who open their spiritual lives to him. A Roman Catholic chaplain describes his visitation of the forgotten men on death row as a \u201cministry of presence\u201d\u009d: \u201cto have somebody drop in . . . to show them that they\u2019re remembered.\u201d\u009d A correctional officer engages in \u201cChristian apologetics\u201d\u009d while policing the chapel. A Muslim prisoner named Baraka\u2019s discussions and debates enlighten the author\u2019s observations of incarcerated life.<\/p>\n
Dubler shows up at Graterford as a budding ethnographer and becomes a man captured by friendships\u201d\u201dby relationships mediated through religious encounters in prison. \u201cHow truly bizarre that this awful place,\u201d\u009d he reflects, \u201cshould afford such profound pleasure to those who feel called to enter into it and partake in its overflowing meaningfulness.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n