The Blogger King on Padilla converting in prison:

I also wonder: Padilla/Al Muhajir picked up Islam in prison. This should make us reconsider who we lock up, and how much religious freedom prisoners are granted. The prison system has been a slow-motion disaster for two or three decades, and here's yet another reason to address it.

I posted on this on the Vodkapundit board a few days ago. To reprint, edited slightly for clarity:

One of the many things I've wondered about... There's been a tacit endorsement of religion by prison authorities in this country for many years now, for many good reasons. And Islamic groups have been very busy in the prisons; more among African Americans, of course, but not exclusively. Now here we have a prison convert to Islam turned apparent terrorist. Does anyone know if there have been any changes in how the authorities look at these prosletyzing efforts? I would think al-Qaeda would appreciate a large group of non-Arabs, mostly American citizens, all of whom would have a reasonable beef with the system.

It's important to remember that religion is encouraged in prisons. It's a good way to keep the inmates under control. And it would almost certainly be unconstitutional to say that Islamic groups can't minister to the prisons while continuing to allow Christians to.