Since Islam has no central authority or the equivalent of a major seminary in the United States, most prison officials turn to local Muslim leaders for guidance, said Paul Rogers, president of the interfaith American Correctional Chaplains Association.

Chaplains say a culture change in U.S. prisons makes the spread of extremism less likely.

Back in the 1970s, many Muslim inmates were veterans of black nationalist movements who felt a link to Third World anti-colonial struggles and antipathy toward U.S. government policies.

Jimmy Jones, a Muslim who worked for about 25 years as a chaplain in a New Haven jail, said that way of thinking is no longer the norm. Jones said he heard a couple of young inmates cheer the 9/11 attacks, but he contended their response came from "adolescent bitterness" about being incarcerated.

"I think people are confusing what people say with what people might do. The younger inmates don't know anything about the Third World or about Egypt or the Middle East," said Jones, a world religion professor at Manhattanville College. "Al-Qaida would have more success recruiting at a college than in prison."