Prison officials explain that poverty accounts for the high number of incarcerated Muslims. Those who emigrate from Muslim countries often find themselves in bad positions.
"Many immigrants arrive in France in difficult financial situations, which make delinquency more frequent," says Sautire.
Sociologists feel that government social policies in France isolate and restrict Muslims to poverty-stricken suburbs with high unemployment rates, sub-standard housing, and inferior schools, leaving little hope for the future and even less respect for French authority.
"The high percentage of Muslims in prisons is a direct consequence of the failure of the integration of minorities in France," said Moussa Khedimellah, a sociologist who has spent several years focusing his research on Muslims in the French prison system.
This statistic is not isolated to France. Although France has the highest number of Muslim prisoners, all European countries have large Muslim prison populations. In Britain, 11% of prisoners are Muslim, in contrast to about 3% of all inhabitants of Great Britain.
