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On February 28, 2021, simply after 9 p.m., contained in the Missouri state jail within the small city of Bonne Terre, 9 Muslim males took off their sneakers, lined up in a single file, and knelt silently for Isha. Bal sat down, which is the necessary nightly prayer of their religion.
His motion was neither uncommon nor provocative. The boys had been praying of their ordinary area of their wing on the Japanese Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Middle (ERDCC), as much as 4 occasions a day, for a number of months with out incident, as COVID restrictions closed the jail chapel. Had accomplished it.
They lived within the B wing of Housing Unit 4, or 4-Home, which was often called the “Honor Dorm” and was reserved for inmates who had no latest violations. In different wings of the boys's jail, prisoners got restricted outing of their cells. However within the honors dorm, males may be out of their cells all day within the frequent space of the bottom ground of the wing, heating up meals bought on the commissary within the shared microwave, or sitting on the desk to speak or play playing cards or chess. Can collect. Tied to the concrete ground.
The group of worshipers gathered to wish behind the frequent space started with three inmates and grew to between 9 and 14. Kadir (Reginald) Clemons, 52, who normally led the decision to prayer, says he checked in periodically with the jail chaplain and with the “bubble officer” within the management room, which supplied a view of all 4 wings. Ordered a viewing to verify that there could be no downside with the group praying. Christian prisoners additionally organized communal prayer circles all through ERDCC, together with the Honors Hostel.
Nonetheless, on this night time, these kneeling shall be charged by jail guards. 5 of them shall be doused with pepper spray till they writhe in ache. Seven could be shackled and, most of them with out sneakers, marched by way of the winter slush of a recreation yard about 50 meters away to a different housing unit, the place they might be put into solitary confinement , additionally known as Administrative Separation, Adseg, or just – “the Gap”. ,
The group's chief, Mustafa (Steven) Stafford, 58, a brief, jovial man whom others known as “the Sheikh” due to his dedication to Islam, could be attacked on the way in which to Adseg after which as soon as there . Following their launch from the Gap 10 days later, Stafford and the others would face additional reprisals.
After the incident not one of the males calling themselves the “Bonne Terre Seven” have been charged with any prices aside from disobeying the lieutenant's order to cease praying, which acknowledged their perception that they have been to take action besides in an emergency. Can't do that. In keeping with the now-retired lieutenant, no jail officers have been disciplined over the incident.
This account of the violent disruption of peaceable prayer and its aftermath relies on dozens of private and phone interviews, together with six of the Bonne Terre Seven, eight different prisoners who witnessed the assault, and several other officers. That is bolstered by a lawsuit filed by Clemons in 2022, now amended to incorporate eight of his fellow worshipers, who’re petitioning the courtroom to declare that the Missouri Division of Corrections (MODOC) Can’t deny spiritual rights and compensate them for it. What did they should endure? It is usually primarily based on interviews with human and prisoner rights advocates from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and legal professionals for the boys.
The image that emerges is of a facility, and a bigger jail system, that usually treats Muslim inmates, the vast majority of whom are black, with suspicion, hostility, and racism.
Even in opposition to this backdrop, the ERDCC assault stands out for its brutality. “I've by no means seen a case that concerned this stage of violence,” says CAIR lawyer Kimberly Noe-Lehenbauer, who represented 9 victims.
the jail
ERDCC is positioned on the outskirts of Bonne Terre within the low, rolling hills of the Ozark Plateau, 60 miles (96.6 km) south of St. Louis, Missouri's second-largest metropolis.
Bonne Terre is in St. Francois County, which is about 93 % white and overwhelmingly Republican; 73 % of voters supported Donald Trump within the 2020 election. Trump indicators stay considerable immediately, together with different markers of native beliefs; A “Jesus Loves You” billboard adorns the facet of a state freeway, instantly adopted by a entrance door draped within the Accomplice flag.
The ERDCC opened in 2003, bringing a brand new core business to the previous mining city, whose heart is positioned over a big mine that was closed in 1962. Town's inhabitants, together with prisoners, is lower than 7,000, down from about 2,600 as of July 2020. Male.
ERDCC is a large D-shaped mixed-security camp. It has the most important jail inhabitants within the state and consists of 11 housing items, 10 of which have 4 wings and a containment unit or “bubble” within the heart.
The camp has a eating corridor, a constructing that homes instructional applications and a medical facility, three leisure yards, an consumption space, and a small manufacturing unit the place some prisoners produce cleaning soap and different cleansing supplies. There’s a visiting room in a constructing straight reverse the jail entrance. The identical constructing homes Missouri's solely execution chamber, though convicted prisoners are held in Potosi, 15 miles (24 km) west, and are delivered to the ERDCC shortly earlier than their scheduled execution.