The Islamic Perspective on Jails and Prisons

To judge that something is prohibited in Islam, there must be evidence (referred to as daleel in Arabic), which means that the Qur'an or hadith clearly either directly or indirectly prohibit what is under consideration.

Prisons, from the perspective of Islamic law, are like cars, eating utensils, or the Internet. They are tools and means, rather than matters that should be subject to moral or legal examination in their own right, tools could be prohibited, obligatory, or permissible, depending on how much they support or violate Islam's values and objectives. For example, using the Internet could be an obligation if it is used to achieve obligatory Islamic objectives that could not be achieved otherwise but at the same time, it could also be prohibited if it is used as means to immoral ends.

Similarly, prisons could be necessary to achieve certain social and legal goals, and they could also be banned if the way they are used violates any of the Islamic principles.
One Islamic principle that is directly related to prisons is freedom. A fundamental rule says that freedom is an aim of the Law-Giver. A prison, therefore, could not be used to restrain people's freedoms unless it is judged that this freedom will cause the society substantial harm. Otherwise, every precaution should be taken before people's freedom is compromised by imprisonment.

One might ask why prisons were not used at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the answer is that the exact methods of governance were mostly left to our own judgment (ijtihad) according to the development of human life on earth. This means that as long as the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not prohibit Muslims from a certain method, it remains permissible.

Islamic scholars differentiated between two types of Prophetic traditions: traditions that were meant to be an absolute part of Islam, and others that were not meant to be followed generally, but were rather subject to specific circumstances.

Al-Qarafi, for example, in his book, Al-Furuq says the following:
There is a difference between the Prophetic actions as a conveyer of the divine message, a judge, and a leader. The implication in the law is that what he says or does as a conveyer goes as a general ruling. … However, decisions related to the military, public trust, appointing judges and governors, distribution of spoils of war, signing treaties, and the like, are merely leadership decisions.

Examples of these categories Al-Qarafi mentioned include the hadith of pollinating the palm trees:

"I was walking with the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he passed by some people at the tops of their palm trees. He asked: "What are they doing?" They answered: "Pollinating the male into the female." He (the Prophet) replied: "I do not think that this will be of benefit." (Muslim)

When they were told about what the Prophet said, they stopped what they were doing. Later, when the trees shed down their fruits prematurely, the Prophet was told about that. He said: "If it is good for them they should do it. I was just speculating. So, pardon me. But if I tell you something about God … you know your worldly affairs better than me."

(Abdul-Jalil Issa, Ijtihad Al-Rasul )
This hadith shows a matter that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is instructing us to deal with according to human experience rather than revelation. Human empirical experience is meant to be the final judging factor for these kinds of tools and means.

The only direct reference to prisons in the Qur'an is the story of Prophet Yusuf (Joseph, peace be upon him) and also in the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) praising Prophet Yusuf's persistence in prison. (Bukhari)

There are various narrations about the Companions and caliphs, 'Umar and 'Ali, who started using prisons with robbers, abusers, and indirect participants in crimes of killing.