Introduction
“A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens, but by how it treats its criminals.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Prisons are a place where criminals should be given punishments, and in the darkness of prisons, they should reflect on their actions. But in recent years, prisons have become radicalization centers for extremists. It has raised national security concerns globally. Radicalized criminals indoctrinate other inmates and organize their further violent activities within the penitentiary facilities. Michael Chiolo is an example of a victim of indoctrination. In 2019, he injured two prison officers, and when asked, he confessed his actions were due to the support of Cherif Chekatt, the perpetrator of the jihadist attack in Strasbourg on 11th December 2018. Radicalized in prisons and having contacts with terrorists, Michael is living proof that prisons are becoming hubs of radicalization. In other words, a place that was meant to contain violent activities is now strengthening the very threats.
Factors Leading Towards Prison Radicalization
Factors favoring prison radicalization can be understood through the ORFN framework, which stands for the following 4 major factors leading to prison vulnerabilities:
- Overcrowding
- Radical influencers
- Failure of rehabilitation
- Networking beyond prisons
Overcrowding and Vulnerability
Due to the increasing rate of crimes in penitentiary centers, there is overcrowding, and there is a scarcity of staff. Due to this, it becomes difficult to manage them. This creates a hierarchical system in prisons. The new inmates are forced to subordinate to the senior criminals. In this subordination, they have to follow the orders of the old rogues. In this vulnerable environment, the new inmates are influenced by those seasoned criminals and become extremists. Sometimes indoctrination occurs due to frustration and to seek a sense of recognition. In penitentiaries, inmates are socially marginalized; they don’t have any aim or job to do. This leads to inner frustration, and they seek to be recognized. Due to this, they become extremely vulnerable, which results in joining extremist groups raised in a restricted environment.
Influence of Radical Inmates
The radicalized criminals force their inmates to join their extremist networks. This process is known as “proselytism.” It creates vassalage in prisons where loyalty and ideological influence are most important. This brainwashing occurs mainly through the religious practices happening in prisons. Religion can be used as a soft tool to indoctrinate the naive with extremist ideologies. For example, in France, Salah Abdeslam is famous for influencing his inmates during detention. This mentor-recruit dynamic is popular in the European penitentiary cells.
“The punishment should fit the crime, but the prison often shapes the criminal.”
Cesare Beccaria
Failure of Rehabilitation
The rehabilitation of these criminals occurs in two phases: during radicalization and after their release. It is one of the biggest preventive and countering violent extremism (PCVE) challenges. It includes mainly the organizations, including the psychiatrists, prison chaplains, and intervention providers. The rehabilitation process requires coordination between police, prison, and probation services. Issues arise as many of the foreign terrorist fighters have burned their family and community ties. So, the psychiatrists have to deal softly, like their family members, with the individuals hoping to live a peaceful and respectable life away from violence.
Networking Beyond Prisons
In prison cells, criminals expand their extremist networks within the restricted environment. This happens mainly due to the nexus between prison officers and radicalized groups. This connection between the law enforcers and de facto groups fuels violent extremism globally. When these anti-extremist and counterterrorist institutions shield these vulnerable groups, they lose legitimacy, and radicalization narratives gain strength. Instead of ruining these networks, poor rehabilitation systems and a lack of post-release supervision enable them to reform and adjust outside the prison. This forms a cycle of imprisonment as merely part of a more extended process of radical engagement and not necessarily a break with it.
Case Studies
Iraq: Camp Bucca
In southern Iraq, there is a US-run prison camp, Camp Bucca. The prison is also known as Jihadi University. There are many cases of this prison where inmates are brainwashed. Abu Ahmed al-Alwani is one of the cases. He met the first leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, in this prison in 2004. He was unknown at that time. Abu Bakr and Abu Ahmed were friends; Abu Ahmed was influenced by al-Baghdadi. He says that al-Baghdadi is likeable; he is peaceful. The bond between the two of them increased, and one day they wrote their details on the elastic of their boxers so that whenever they are released, they will operate together.
After Baghdadi’s release, Abu Ahmed was also released shortly. He reconnected with Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and became a senior official of IS. Al-Alwani says that boxers helped us win the war. In 2006, after their release, they attacked Imam Hassan al-Askari’s shrine in Samarra. Many individuals who became members of ISIS were from Camp Bucca, showing how radical influencers and networking contributed to indoctrination.
French Prisons
Reports provided by the Council of Europe note that French prisons are overcrowded. More than eighty thousand prisoners were in one prison center, and 3,000 were forced to sleep on the floor due to a lack of cells and facilities. 17,000 prisoners were beyond the maximum official capacity. This vulnerability leads to a hierarchical system in prison where senior prisoners dominate new inmates. Those subordinates have to follow the commands of old rogues, due to which they have influence over their thoughts.
United Kingdom: Belmarsh Prison
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies notes that prison radicalization has increased in the prisons of the United Kingdom. Some inmates have conducted terrorist activities after their release. Even rehabilitation schemes faced failure in British prisons, especially in the famous Belmarsh prison. During radicalization, rehabilitation brings some hope, but due to a reduction in rehabilitation sessions after release, the inmates resume their violent activities. This highlights the urge to reform the rehabilitation process.
Addressing the Challenges
Addressing prison radicalization requires following multi-level strategies:
- Improve prison conditions
- Recruit more staff and fewer criminals in one prison.
- Separate cells for the direct perpetrator
- Promote community reintegration
- Strengthen the intelligence to disrupt the illicit nexuses.
Conclusion
The ORFN framework, which includes overcrowding, radical influence, failed rehabilitation, and post-release networks, highlights the vulnerabilities within prison systems and how they fuel rather than contain extremism. Addressing prison radicalization requires a strong rehabilitation procedure rather than strict control over prisoners.
Until and unless rehabilitation is transformed, prisons will continue to function as a hub of radicalization. Ignoring this issue can cause long-term consequences, which can fuel violence and disrupt the image of that specific country. Unless these systems are reformed, prisons will continue to function not as barriers to terrorism, but as silent enablers of it.
“Crime was not a cause but a result; the prisons were the open sores of a diseased social body.”
Irving Stone
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
Syeda Farani Fatima is an undergraduate student of International Relations at the International Islamic University of Islamabad, with a strong interest in anti-corruption, counter-terrorism and geopolitics. Strongly committed to fighting corruption, terrorism, and supporting national reform through research and public service.
