Jail or Freedom

I believe that the moment that Malcolm is arrested is the moment that he was set free. Him being sentenced to ten years in prison gets him off the streets and away from all the wrong-doing he had become accustomed too. It is not until he meets Bimbi inside the prison that he is able to get away from his addiction to drugs. Bimbi teaches Malcolm how to speak with authority. This leads to Malcolm starting to think outside the box, and outside of his hustler mindset. When he is moved to Norfolk Prison Colony, a prison with less violence and more studying, Malcolm starts to re-learn his english and later on, take up the religion of Islam. He first heard about is from his brother, and after studying up on it, he has begun to write to Elijah Muhammed, the leader of the nation of Islam, everyday. It is this switch to islam that begins to transform Malcolm and get him away from the life he once knew as a hustler