In Tennessee state prisons, practicing Islam is expensive.
A Bible here costs $5.45, while a Quran goes for $7.25 — even though it has fewer pages. The rosary used by Catholics sells for $1.65, while Muslims are charged $6.95 for prayer beads. And a satin kippah associated with Jewish adherents costs less than half of a Muslim kufi head covering.
In state and federal prisons in the U.S., about 9% of people identify as Muslim. Whether intentional or not, prisoners tend to have fewer options to purchase Islamic religious items than non-Islamic items, and the ones they can buy often cost more.
At the time of publication, the Tennessee Department of Corrections had not responded to a request for comment for this story.
This is the right answer. The board of prisons could make or contract their own crap-quality versions of all these things, in an effort to make all prices the same. But that baseline price would have to be higher. Economies of scale.