From The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin)
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you would like to donate copies of the Quran to the Racine County jail, please email Chaplain Merritt Adams at merritta@racineco.com
RACINE COUNTY — If Racine County Jail inmates need a Bible, they aren’t likely to face the prospect of not having enough to go around.
But if you are a Muslim inmate, you’re kind of out of luck when it comes to obtaining a Quran.
“I can’t give what I don’t have,” jail Chaplain Merritt Adams Jr. said. “It would appear to my Muslim inmates that Christians get everything and Muslims get nothing. And that’s not the case.”
Adams said he isn’t even operating on a shoestring budget when it comes to materials.
“Everything I have to give is donated,” said Adams, himself a Christian. “I can’t meet the need without the community’s support. I’m a nonprofit. … No other faith that I address do I have to ask for materials. I don’t know what else to do to meet the needs.”
He said if more Qurans were available, more inmates may ask for copies.
“I think (now) they just don’t ask,” he said.
At any time, there may be 10 to 15 Muslim inmates in the Racine County Jail, Adams estimated. Of those, five or six might be classified as devout Muslims.
“I’ve asked everybody I know in the community at least once (each),” he said, and then he went online to request free Qurans from four or five organizations.
He obtained two Qurans, donated by the Racine Islamic Center, Adams said. “So now we’ve got two,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you would like to donate copies of the Quran to the Racine County jail, please email Chaplain Merritt Adams at merritta@racineco.com
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