Aboriginal conversions to Islam in prison: A substantial security threat or another moral panic?

This paper is concerned not just with the phenomenon of Aboriginal conversions to Islam while in New South Wales (NSW) prisons, but also with NSW government and media responses to these conversions. The paper documents how alarmist reports by senior officers of the Department of Corrective Services in 2005, and subsequently by the media, reflected little analysis or understanding of what was being observed. Despite the tenor of the reporting, there was no urgency to develop comprehensive, evidence-based responses. Commencing in 2012, the situation changed with the Department of Corrective Services becoming increasingly engaged with Muslim leaders, communities and organisations. This has fostered the development of a broad-based understanding of the interaction of the correctional system with the Muslim and Aboriginal communities and inmates and to inform the development of policy and practice.