New York, NY – City to Review Hiring of Jail Chaplains

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    New York, NY – It was not clear what was more surprising initially to city officials: that one of the Department of Correction’s chaplains was accused of taking scissors and metal blades into a jail, or that the same chaplain had been convicted of murder.

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    Both disclosures about the chaplain, Imam Zulqarnain Abdu-Shahid, have led the Correction Department to conduct a review of the circumstances of his hiring.

    While the review has not been completed, correction officials said Thursday that the department was aware of the chaplain’s second-degree murder conviction before he was hired, two years ago.

    Stephen J. Morello, a department spokesman, said background checks were required for all job applicants, including chaplains. Applicants also must submit to interviews and a fingerprint check. Candidates are required to “self-disclose” any criminal record, he said.

    But a conviction, even for murder, does not necessarily disqualify a candidate from a civilian job like a chaplain’s – though it does disqualify applicants who want to be correction officers.

    The only “civil service required qualification” for hiring a chaplain, Mr. Morello said, is to obtain an ecclesiastical endorsement from the candidate’s denomination, which in the case of Muslims would come from the Majlis Ash-Shura of New York, in Wyandanch.

    Records show that Imam Abdu-Shahid was found guilty, along with three other men, of murdering a customer during a robbery of a supermarket in Harlem in December 1976. He served nearly 14 years in state prison, and was paroled from Sing Sing in 1993, officials said.

    On Wednesday, Imam Abdu-Shahid was charged with various counts of promoting prison contraband after he was intercepted with a pair of scissors and three metal blades in his bag as he tried to enter a jail in Lower Manhattan, according to the city’s Department of Investigation.

    He was held on $50,000 bond after his arraignment. His lawyer, James M. McQueeney, said the chaplain had reformed his life since his murder arrest.

    Asked if it was a benefit for the department to employ seasoned chaplains who might better relate to prisoners because of their range of life experiences, Mr. Morello referred to the civil service guidelines.

    “It’s not part of the job requirement,” he said.

    Mr. Morello said there were about 50 clergy members on the department’s staff of chaplains, representing different denominations. Some are full-time, salaried employees; others work part time. He could not say how many had criminal records.

    Imam Abdu-Shahid was not the first chaplain in the Correction Department to have his criminal past cited amid disciplinary problems.

    Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil was suspended in 2006 because of remarks he made about the White House being occupied by terrorists. Last year, he was among those disciplined in connection with a bar mitzvah party arranged in a city jail by a part-time chaplain, Rabbi Leib Glanz, for the son of a prisoner, officials said.

    Rabbi Glanz resigned last June, officials said.

    Correction officials knew Imam Abdul-Jalil had a criminal history when they hired him in 1993, eventually promoting him to chief chaplain. Mr. Morello, however, said he was unsure of the specifics of his criminal background.

    “I know he had a criminal record,” Mr. Morello said. As for the details, he added, “I cannot say for sure.”

    As for Imam Abdu-Shahid, Mr. Morello said, “His background was investigated when he was hired” and the necessary ecclesiastical endorsement was obtained.

    Dora B. Schriro, the new commissioner of the Department of Correction, has suspended Imam Abdu-Shahid without pay, threatened further punishment and called for a departmental review of the vetting process that allowed him to be hired in 2007.

    “I think all of the policies, involving allowing certain imams access to our prisoners, have been an example of political correctness run amok,” said Peter F. Vallone Jr., the chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety. “Clearly, some of these people should never have been allowed access to prisoners.”

    Law enforcement and public safety agencies generally bar those with criminal convictions from serving; Mr. Morello said that a felony conviction would prevent an applicant for a correction officer’s position from being hired.

    In the New York Police Department, there is a firm rule against hiring anyone – potential police officers or civilians – with a felony conviction, said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman. While those with misdemeanor convictions might, in theory, be eligible for a job, it is, “highly unlikely” in practice, said Mr. Browne. If a misdemeanor conviction indicates a record of dishonesty, or domestic violence, it is an automatic bar, he said.

    The same is true in the Fire Department, where felony convictions bar candidacy, said Francis X. Gribbon, the chief department spokesman. As for misdemeanors, “You can get on with a misdemeanor, on a case by case basis,” he said. “Some misdemeanors are really bad.”

    Firefighting and law enforcement require skills far different from those needed by someone in the clergy, who minister to spiritual needs. A spokesman for the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association declined to comment on the issue, saying that hiring was an administrative task, while pointing out that the discovery of blades being taken into a jail exposed the dangers officers face each day.


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    6 Comments
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    NYCbuff
    NYCbuff
    14 years ago

    they need Rabbi Glanz back….. -k-

    Steven
    Steven
    14 years ago

    WHEN will our governments learn? Wasn’t Fort Hood enough of a warning? What do they think will happen when they hire ex-cons who have suddenly found “religion”? I don’t care if they’re an Inmam or a Rabbi. If you have a record, you have no place working with Children or in a place like a prison. The fact they made this guy “Chief Chaplan”.

    I’m sorry, but this country is headed the way of Europe and will soon be overrun and controlled by Muslims. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

    The candidate said
    The candidate said
    14 years ago

    This is as crazy as it will get, “sick and getting sicker” as Bob Grant would say.

    To compare the Chaplin’s who bring in razor blades and other dangerous objects, or the chaplains who say that 9/11 was justified to Rabbi Glantz bringing in a Bar Mitzvah, soda, a Singer and music is just simple nuts.

    This is where this country is going under the O’bama and Bloomberg Administration in order to be political correct, entertainment, sports and lecture’s have always been part of corrections way of keeping prisoners calm.

    The current Department of Corrections, needs many corrections and to start is by bringing the type of people as Rabbi Glantz back and arrest all the Imam’s.

    Rabbi Glantz resigned from Corrections, we in the Jewish community are angered by it and lose for Corrections and a victory for us, so he can spend more time with us.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    No we need some one normal like Rabbi Postasnick or Rabbi Klass.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    So let me get this straight. Florida has a law that says if you’re convicted of a felony you can’t be a taxi driver (fact), but in New York you can have security clearance at a correctional institution.