‘Muslims do not submit to anyone except the Almighty’: staying the same and evading prison categories in Chechen prisoners’ experiences in Russia

The literature on Islam and prison often approaches Islam, and religion more broadly, as changing during incarceration. The literature focuses upon three main aspects emphasizing change: rehabilitation, adaptation (to the prison environment), and radicalization. In this article, I use the case study of Chechen Muslim prisoners in Russia to contrast these aspects. I argue that Islam can also provide support for not changing in prison. Indeed, in the Chechen prisoners’ experiences, the Islamic religion helps them withdraw from the prison environment and maintain their humanness by not adopting a prison identity. For them, change is damaging, since they perceive the Russian prison system as dehumanizing.