5-Percenters in NY State Prisons
The 5-Percenters, AKA Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE), are classified as Security Threat Groups or gangs in several state correctional systems. This was also the practice with the New York State Department of Corrections until the late 1990’s when an inmate launched a lawsuit against the department in federal court. Intelligent Tarref Allah, AKA Rashaad Marria, who was serving a life sentence for murder, claimed that the department and its officers were violating his religious rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUPA). Even though the Nation of Gods and Earths claimed (even publicly on their web site) that they were not a religion, but a “way of life”, Allah sued under the RLUPA, because he was not allowed to practice his “way of life” and his lessons, documents and materials were continuously confiscated.
Allah lost his lawsuit in the first federal court where he sought an injunction and he appealed to another federal court district. In the meantime the New York State Department of Corrections continued to confiscate written documents of the group, but would not issue disciplinary reports using their “gang rule” 105.12 (Unauthorized Organizational Activities). This continued until July 2003 when Judge Naomi Reice-Buchwald in the Southern District Court in New York ruled that the NGE could be designated a “religion” within the New York State Department of Corrections. The department immediately appealed this decision, but was unsuccessful. In August 2004 the department issued a memorandum detailing the rights and privileges of a Sincere Adherent to the NGE. Although this severely restricted their practices, the 5-Percenters did, in fact, win in court.
Under the memorandum, Sincere Adherents of the NGE are required to change their religious designation with the department to receive any of the privileges. Sincere Adherents may only possess the 120 Degree lessons and the Supreme Alphabet and Mathematics: possession of “plus lessons” is strictly forbidden. Sincere Adherents may not remove the 5-Percenter symbol or have any 5-Percenter symbol on display (so therefore can not possess or wear 5-Percenter jewelry). Sincere Adherents may not conduct group study meetings or have congregate religious services. Sincere Adherents may have a volunteer religious leader meet with them, one-on-one, in the visiting room during regular visiting hours. The 5-Percenter newspaper is purchased by the department for the inmates to read. The newspaper is stored in each facility law library. The inmate may check it out and read it in the law library, but must return it before leaving the area.
Inmates who do not change their religious designation to Sincere Adherents of the NGE, and who are found in possession of such material, can be subjected to the disciplinary proceedings of the department. It is enlightening to note, in this author’s opinion, that more than half of inmates claiming to be members of the Nation of Islam (NOI) are actually members of the Nation of Gods and Earths/5-Percenters because some lessons and ideology are so closely related.
In January 2007 the Massachusetts Department of Corrections came to an agreement with a 5-Percenter litigator who was suing them for the right to practice as a 5-Percenter and possess documents. There is currently a lawsuit by a federal inmate in the US Bureau of Prisons to gain the same rights. As for Intelligent T Allah, he is suing the New York State Department of Corrections again, to expand the rights and privileges for members of the NGE -- a group that several other states have won the right to lockdown the members of as a Security Threat Group.
Since the department established its decree in 2004, less than 200 inmates in the department (of 63,500 inmates) have changed their religious designation to be a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths.
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Michael Cushman has been a Correction Officer with the NYS DOCS for 18 years. The last 10 years he has investigated gangs and gang activity at his facility. He was also instrumental in helping to solve a 5-Percenter code that cracked a murder case. Michael is also a Master at Arms 1st Class (military police) in the US Navy Reserves. He is a member of the East Coast Gang Investigators Association and New York State Gang Investigators Association. He may be reached at mcushman@aol.com.
