Muslim Women in Prison project hosts a film and research launch event in London

This week Khidmat Centres, including our NWJC partner Muslim Women in Prison (MWIP) project, co-hosted a sold-out film screening in London of Inside Out: Muslim Women in Prison.

Supported by their partners at Islamic Relief, Leeds Beckett University and Sheffield Hallam University, MWIP shared their insightful and moving documentary that explores the deeply personal experiences of Muslim women navigating the justice system and their journeys to resettling back into their community. It deals specifically with the complex and pervasive nature of the shame Muslim women experience as a result of their criminal justice involvement, and how the transference of this shame, from women to their families and communities, can have a devasting and lasting traumatic impact.

Introducing the film, Dr Sofia Buncy explained it had been made in the spirit of justice, to give Muslim women an identity and to humanise their experiences. She went on to express deep gratitude to all those who took part in the documentary, acknowledging the personal risks and fears they had to face to speak freely on camera.

One of the women who featured in the film addressed the audience directly and talked about her personal experiences of being in prison. Having left her two-month-old son in the care of his grandmother, she explained, “Nobody told me about Mother & Baby Units or the Chaplaincy, or that I was entitled to a prayer mat… every time I tried to challenge the discrimination I was experiencing, I was seen as a troublemaker. I had the right to be treated with dignity but because of my race and faith, I wasn’t.”

Dr Buncy went on to talk about how and why the MWIP was founded in 2013 and provided detailed context to the groundbreaking research study MWIP has conducted in collaboration with Leeds Beckett University. Funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust and Transition 2 Adulthood (T2A), the study is the first of its kind with a specific focus on the intersection of gender, age, and faith and examines the specific experiences of young Muslim girls aged 17-25 years entering the criminal justice system.

The screening was followed by an expert panel discussion, chaired by Remona Aly, that included Dr Buncy, Dr Alexandria Bradley, Shazia Arshad from IRUK and another of the women who appeared in the film. The panel discussed a range of related topics including the impact of institutionalised Islamophobia, and how a lack of cultural competency and understanding within the prison system exasperates and heightens the trauma and harms experienced by Muslim women.

It was a wonderful event, attended by other NWJC partners, friends and funders, celebrating both the launch of a pioneering research project and a film that successfully and beautifully elevates the voices and perspectives of Muslim women and girls in a way that will provoke deep reflection within Muslim communities and beyond, and that must drive positive action to  improve understanding and support for Muslim women in contact with the CJS. #InsideOut #MWIPlaunch