France's prisons are becoming Islamic strongholds. Not only do Muslims commit a disproportionate percentage of crimes in France, but non—Muslims are increasingly choosing to convert to Islam behind bars. Such conversions offer them physical protection and fellowship with other Muslims, as well as expression of defiance toward the French establishment.

Muslims often account for over half the population of many French prisons, while penitentiaries close to rough suburbs could have up to 80 percent Muslim inmates, Fahrad Khosrokhavar, a French author and academic, was quoted as saying in Le Figaro newspaper Monday.

This phenomenon is by no means limited to France, as the UK and the United States are both seeing a trend toward prison conversions to Islam. To the extent that a nation's criminal subculture adopts a unifying religious ideology, and to the extent that the ideology embraces a destructive creed such as radical Islam, a potentially revoltuionary class, unafraid to flout the law, is created.

The danger light is flashing red.

Posted by Thomas  04 14 04