A TERRORIST IS NOT RENDERED HARMLESS WHILE IN PRISON, IF HE CAN, HE WILL ACT, IF HE CAN’T HE WILL INFLUENCE....THE JAILED TERRORIST OFTEN PROVIDES A SEGUE FOR OTHERS TO BE RADICALIZED.
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| Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri (أبو حمزة المصري, born 15 April 1958) an infamous Muslim cleric in the United Kingdom, convicted in 2006 for racial hatred, terrorist and incitement to murder offences for his inflammatory sermons calling for death to non-Muslims, now in a United States jail. |
The problem is global and ongoing in places like North Africa, Southeast Asia, India, and Russia. It is not confined to one ideology, or religious dogma. Non-Islamic terrorists in prison, members of domestic terrorists organizations with ties to leftist, communist organizations or race supremacy groups are always looking for ways to increase membership or their sphere of influence while incarcerated. Prison can produce strange bedfellows. When you take terrorists whether they are Anarchists, Islamists, Maoists, or Naxals, and put them in prison with alienated, disenfranchised common criminals with a propensity for violence, radicalization will occur and as a result what comes out of prison may be much worse then what went in.
A recruiter will seek out the most vulnerable in the prison population, those alienated individuals who were seeking acceptance and looking for meaning in their life. He will often manipulated their feelings of animosity toward authority and steered them to hate the enemy, be it the infidels, the non-Islamists, or members of a specific race or ethnicity.
Often what unites a violent extremist organization is not only a common goal, but a common enemy.
The problem of prison radicalization will continue to perplex Counter Terrorism and Correctional experts until a consensus is built as to how best to address it. Whether this is achieved by de-radicalization programs, counter radicalization programs, or rehabilitation programs is open for debate. Disagreement is not to be feared. Inaction or complacency in this arena may be our greatest threat. READ MORE...
