Western Resistance

« US: Raid On Home Of Missouri Muslim | | Australia: Muslim Group May Be Taken Over By An Infidel »

September 19, 2006

US: Prisons Are Breeding Grounds For Muslim Terrorists

The problems of placing Muslim criminals into prison systems are already known to have the effect of spreading radical forms of Islam. The problem has been documented by the French General Intelligence Agency (RP) in France, and is currently seen to be a problem in Belgium by the head of the federal police, Glenn Audenaert.

In Australia, the problem of radical Islam finding recruits has been found among Aboriginals, and in Britain the problem also exists. One Black Muslim gang in Britain, the "Muslim Boys" are renowned for forced conversions, which continued in jail. Most members joined the group while in prison. In Belmarsh prison on April 14 the group savagely attacked one of their number when he became an "apostate" . In Feltham Young Offenders Institute, staff seem unable to control forced conversions to Islam.

The problem of Islam being used to recruit inmates in prisons has already been recognised in the United States. A study by the US Department of Justice from April 2004 revealed that 6% of the 150,000 federal inmates are Muslim. Of these, most are Sunni, or Nation of Islam. Only 1% of these identify themselves as Shia.

This compares to a figure of more than half of inmates in France being Muslim. It is unknown how many of the US Muslims became converted inside the prison system, but it appears a large part of the demographic did become Islamic converts inside.

In California, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirms that of 166,000 inmates in the state, about 10,000 of these are Muslim. The majority of these are Sunni Muslims.

Many Californian prisoners are ex-gang members, predominantly African-American, who seek a strict set of values not found in their chaotic lives outside the penitentiaries. But among these, a number deliberately seek out a violent form of jiadist Islam, which gives "religious" conviction to their gangster mentalities.

One such case was Kevin James, who was sentenced to a ten year jail term for robbery. While in Folsom jail, he formed a group called Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh and began to draw recruits. These included those who became involved in the LA Jihad, which planned to attack synagogues and military installations in the state.

Even though Kevin James was transferred from Folsom to another jail based in southern California, his influence has had marked effects upon the loosely-supervised Muslim inmates at Folsom.

The 61-page document from the US Department of Justice, entitled: "A Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Selection of Muslim Religious Services Providers', from April 2004, can be uploaded in pdf format here.

The report states that: "Concerns regarding the radicalization of Muslim inmates in prisons were heightened after former inmates Richard Reid and Jose Padilla were arrested for allegedly attempting to commit terrorist acts against the United States. Reid, convicted for attempting to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes, had converted to Islam in a British prison and left the prison with radical leanings. British officials suspect he was radicalized in part by extreme Islamic clerics who visited and preached at the prison. Jose Padilla, arrested for attempting to detonate a dirty bomb in the United States, converted to Islam after serving time in a Broward County, Florida, jail where authorities suspect his Islamic radicalization began."

Now, a new report has been produced today by the Homeland Security Policy Institute of George Washington University.

The report is discussed by Fox News, the Lincoln, Nebraska Journal Star, the blog Corruption Chronicles and All Headline News.

In essence, the report, entitled "Out of the Shadows: Getting Ahead of Prisoner Radicalization" has found that because of limited funds, there is little supervision of Muslim groups within prisns, and in this uncontrolled environment, radical Islam is spreading, and raising a new generation of potential terrorists.

The study was done in conjunction with the University of Virginia, and was released at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on "homegrown" terrorists. The study warns: "In the absence of monitoring by authoritative Islamic chaplains, materials that advocate violence have infiltrated the prison system undetected."

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross told the senators that when he worked for the AL-Haramain Islamic Foundation, "chilling" interpretations of the Quran were distributed. We reported on October 18 last year that this group had copies of the Koran which had an appendix (number 3), where readers are advised to "race to jihad" and in that race to include missiles, planes and ships against the enemies of Allah.

On September 9, 2004, Oregon-based US branch of Al-Haramain was designated as a terror organisation. A lawyer from Ashland, Tom Nelson, had been appointed to act as the "representative" of Al-Haramain USA. On July 21 literature from the group, including boxes of these jihadist Korans, were returned to the lawyer. Nelson said that he will give away the literature to anyone who wishes it. His client (Pete Seda) had earlier given away literature such as the jihad-encouraging copies of the Koran to prisoners and others.

Gartenstein-Ross, who now works as a counterterrorism consultant, told the senators: "I know of only a few instances in which prisons rejected the literature we attempted to distribute...and it was never because of the literature's radicalism." He claimed that the interpretations of the Koran produced by Al-Haramain urged Muslims "to wage war against non-Muslims who have not submitted to Islamic rule."

Susan Collins, Republican Senator for Maine, who chaired the meeting, said the matter of radical Islam in US jails was "an emerging threat to our national security."

Delaware senator Tom Carper (Democrat) said: "While homegrown Islamic terrorism might not be as much of a threat as in say, Europe or some other places, we ignore the threat that does exist at our peril."

The full report, which is 38 pages long, can be downloaded in pdf format HERE.

Just pulling a few random comments from the report, it is stated (p 5) that prison gangs can adopt a form of Islam unique to prison which incorporates values of gang loyalty and violence. The investigators found that several Imams called this phenomenon "Jailhouse Islam". Some extreme right-wing groups have actually found common cause with radical Islamic gangs, and some terrorist groups use narcotics trading to finance their operations.

The recruitment of Muslim chaplains is limited by a lack of recognised national religious organizations who are recognized, who could administer such vetting procedures. It quotes the 2004 report which found that of 193 wardens questioned, only half said that religious services were physically supervised, and just over half used audio or video monitoring for such meetings.

The report bemoans the fact (p 7) that there are inadequate numbers of Muslim religious service providers, and regrets that after release, prisoners are not adequately "tracked".

Some radical Muslim groups use Arabic as a code script, knowing that it will not be understood by most guards.

The report acknowledges that radical Islam in prisons is a global phenomenon, and states that is essential for the US to share information with other groups around the world on this matter.

It also states that there is currently insufficient knowledge of just how far the threat of radicalisation has infected the prison system, and there is a lack of social science on the issue.

It recommends that Congress establishes a special Commission to fully investigate the matter. It is better to address the issue now, rather than to "manage a crisis later".

The report contains interesting information concerning case studies of individuals and events. In April 1993, a riot took place in a maximum security prison in Lucasville Ohio involving 150 individuals. There were fears that inmates would be forced to have tuberculosis vaccinations, and the Muslims felt this would violate their faith. The riot took the lives of 10 people and caused $40 million worth of damage. After the event, radical materials, such as books and unauthorized audio matter, were found in Muslim inmates' cells.

On page 18, the report contains interesting and accurate information on European prisons, where the radicalism is already fairly well entrenched in the Muslim prison populations.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 19, 2006 7:31 PM

Comments

Post a comment