Radicalisation in prison: a Nascent Threat?

This essay will discuss a new threat that is evolving inside prisons today, namely that of home grown terrorism caused by conversion to radical Islam as opposed to the usual and prevalent, peaceful doctrine of Islam. It will propose aetiological reasons for this worrying phenomenon that is proliferating in prisons and examine what counter measures, if any, are being implemented.

Prison is an environment that exacerbates feelings of extreme vulnerability and a loss of identity. A prisoner is stripped of many of his accoutrements that are part of his daily life on the outside. Many choices are removed from a prisoner such as food and clothing. There have been numerous psychological studies that demonstrate the adverse effects of feeling disempowered. These studies showed how a phenomenon known as “learned helplessness” may occur in an oppressive environment from which no escape is possible (Seligman 1975; 1977). This condition can lead to extreme apathy and a realisation that the situation is a hopeless one. The malaise experienced in these situations is very unpleasant and painful. Therefore any course of action that serves to counteract these feelings of impotence will seem very attractive. Prisoners feel completely disempowered and therefore they are ripe for conversion to the cause of Jihad. The waging of a righteous battle against the unworthy Infidel might appeal to those who feel completely disempowered. This would especially make sense when one considers that this infidel is responsible for the plight of incarceration which is causing the prisoner to suffer.

 A famous experiment demonstrated how those in a position of power are easily tempted to abuse their power. This was the Stanford prison experiment where students masqueraded as prison guards while fellow students assumed the role of prisoners. The student prison guards became so inebriated with their omnipotence that they started to abuse the pretend prisoners and the experiment had to be halted (Zimbardo 1972). Therefore one may deduce that real life prisoners run a risk of being bullied by the omnipotent prison guards. From a psychological point of view it makes perfect sense that these feelings of disengagement might propel the actor along the path of terrorism with a little persuasion. Prison is a painful environment (Tosh 1982; Liebling 1992: 2005). This suffering may engender a desire for retribution against the perpetrator. Prison therefore provides a perfect breeding ground for Islamist radicalisation.

The waging of a Holy War, known as Jihad, may serve to empower those who were previously feeling powerless. Prison conditions of under staffing as well as over crowding, might facilitate this process. Many prisoners fear victimisation and may even be raped or assaulted (Johnson 1995; Bottoms 1999). There is some truth in the saying that there is safety in numbers. Those who join the religious groups in prison will immediately feel protected by the peer group. The prisoner will no longer feel isolated and fearful. Initially there will be a sensation of relief that there is membership of a united cohesive group that is providing religious teachings. The process of radicalisation may possibly follow later; sometimes it will emerge years later. It is important to stress that there is a dearth of empirical research in this area.

 The ability to be influenced by ones peers was examined by the criminologist Edwin Sutherland. He called his theory "differential association” (Sutherland 1937). Many small self starting independent Jihad groups are forming in prison via social bonding processes (Richardson 2006). Individuals behave differently in groups as they feel empowered by the group (Forsyth 2006 p.250). The idea that groups behave more recklessly as an entity has been labelled the “risky shift” by social psychologists. The phenomenon is also known as group polarisation (Moscovici & Zavalloni 1969; Pruitt 1971; Rothwell 1986). Prisoners often hail from a gang culture, especially those in Supermax prisons in the U.S. Many gang members have tattoos expressing their gang allegiance. Gang culture readily lends itself to the conversion to radical Islam.

  Islam is now the fastest growing religion in prisons and 240.0000 inmates have converted to Islam in American prisons since the 9/11 attacks (Hamm 2009). However it is important to note that there is absolutely nothing wrong with conversion to Islam. The problem purely lies with the phenomenon of radicalisation.

Just as prisons are often considered to be schools for crime so they may be considered to be schools for radical Islam (Cuthbertson 2004). Many prisoners had no prior inclination towards religiosity prior to their conversion in prison (Thomas & Zaitrow 2004). Islam professes to be a peaceful religion and is not in itself the cause of radicalisation. However certain tenets of the Koran are very worrying.  The tenets include the ideal of stamping out Christianity and Judaism worldwide, as well as eliminating homosexuality. There are worrisome issues regarding equality and diversity in these days of equality laws (Equality Act 2010).  Muslim women are treated as having fewer rights in contravention of accepted diversity laws. Sharia Law has made substantial inroads into British jurisprudence and there are Sharia courts operating here. Sharia courts deal with divorce matters in a completely different way. A husband may easily rid himself of a tiresome wife in a perfunctory hearing but the converse does not apply (Women against Sharia 2010). Clearly there are serious implications of this gradual encroachment on our legal system.

 A group of prisoners that had converted to Islam were interviewed in British prisons by Howard League researchers. Those who took part said they felt it had given them moral strength and a sense of purpose. One has to remember that Islam forbids drinking alcohol as well as drug taking and therefore it can impose a self discipline that hitherto had been lacking (Spalek & El-Hassain 2007). However one must consider that many radical Islamists would refuse to even communicate with non believers, who they designate as “kuffar” or infidels. The Koran also says “do not take the Jews and Christians for your friends (Q, 5:51). Therefore this sample that cooperated with the interviewers would have been biased towards the less extremist end of the spectrum.

The powerful sense of superiority conveyed by elitist teachings might appeal to a prisoner experiencing low self esteem and disempowerment. The prison service and the CJS have been shown to be institutionally racist after the Lawrence enquiry and many prisoners will be justified in nursing a grievance (Macpherson 1999). The prison service also facilitated the racist murder of Zahid Mubarak in his cell (Dodd 2006).

Therefore the creed of Jihad has a few elements that may appeal to angry male prisoners and give justification for acts of violence against non Muslims. However it must be stressed that most of the teachings are very enlightened, worthy and spiritual and very few converts embark on this path.

The thwarted airline bomber, Richard Reid, was radicalised inside Feltham young Offenders institution. In 2001 London born Richard Reid tried to blow up a transatlantic jet airliner with a bomb hidden inside his shoe. He became known as the “shoe bomber” and subsequently all American airline passengers must now remove their shoes for inspection before boarding a flight. Richard Reid the shoe bomber joined al-Qaeda with encouragement from the Brixton and Finsbury Mosques and embarked on the failed suicide mission.

 His plot failed and he is currently incarcerated inside a Supermax prison. Reid converted to Islam while in Feltham and after his release he listened to the preaching of anti-American cleric Abu Hamza in Finsbury Mosque. In 1999 Abu Hamza gave a sermon in Arabic exhorting the murder of the infidel wherever they may be. He was also arrested that year for involvement with the murder of tourists in Yemen and preached to fellow inmates before being released.

The bomber of July 7 2005, Mohammed Sidique Khan, also attended radical sermons preached by Abu Hamza at Finsbury mosque in 2004. The London bombers also went on a team building outdoor pursuits expedition to the Lake district and the Brecon Beacons. The idea of such group activities is to form strong allegiance and group identity. Team building and outdoor exercise is routinely used by companies to improve staff morale and interpersonal cooperation.

Two weeks after the tragic London bombings there was another attempt to blow up London transport by six different jihadists, once again planned to take place on Thursday.

 Thursday is often the favoured day for suicide bombers as they believe that it will enable their souls to enter paradise on the Friday, their holy day. There they will be greeted by a bevy of female virgins. The Islamic paradise is described in great sensual detail in the Koran. It is a place overflowing with fine wine, jewels and seductive dark eyed virgins. The Koran also praises and encourages martyrdom (Warraq 2002). It is easy to imagine that a sex starved prisoner might be won over by such promises in the after life!

 There was speculation that the leader, Muktar Said Ibrahim, of the July 21 2005 fertiliser bomb plot had previously been radicalised while serving time in prison for an offence of assault on a young girl (BBC News 2005). Muktar Said Ibrahim is now serving a forty year sentence and is considered a risk to the other prisoners by security services because of his belligerent views. There is concern that he will radicalise a substantial number of his fellow inmates. Other dangerous jihadists behind bars include the leader of the 2006 plot to blow up seven airliners with explosives disguised as liquid drinks. The Home Office think tank, named Quilliam is concerned that al-Qaeda is recruiting jihadists from behind bars. Quilliam assert that Abu Qatada has issued Fatwas, religious commands, from his cell in Long Larten Prison. He used the internet to do this. Abu Qatada, is considered by MI5 to be a delegate of Osama bin Laden. He has called for the murder of infidels and of moderate Muslims. Quilliam believes that an increasingly volatile situation is being completely mismanaged and misread by the Prison Service (Quilliam 2009).

Meanwhile the bellicose cleric, Abu Hamza has been using the central  heating pipes that connect the cells to deliver inflammatory radical sermons in Belmarsh prison (Leppard 2009). He was finally sentenced to prison in 2006 after years of coordinating atrocities such as the murders in Yemen. Also in Belmarsh prison  fighting extradition to France for years was the leader of the Paris metro bomb which killed eight people in 1995(Militant Islam Monitor 2005). Rachid Ramda had even been allowed to lead Friday prayers in Belmarsh before he was extradited indicating that extremists are running rings around a beleaguered prison service.

Al-Qaeda is Arabic for the word “base” and is an umbrella group of twenty extremist factions headed by Osama bin Laden. On conversion bomber Richard Reid  changed his appearance and he grew his beard long. The adoption of unique and differing dress codes is analogous to the specific tattoos worn by gang members. It gives a sense of belonging to a powerful club and of being different to others. It is the opposite of integration. It is practicing a type of elitism. The members feel a sense of privilege in belonging to an exclusive club. People like to conform (Asch  1951; 1955;1956: Bond & Smith 1996). Being an insider is always preferable to the stigma of being an outsider (Becker 1963). Those who share common values and dress codes develop bonds that are augmented by opposition to those who hold conflicting values. It is practicing a type of segregation from the community which then makes it easier to attack its members.

Recently Professor Michael Clarke warned that up to 800 radicalised prisoners will soon be released in Britain and possibly pose a security risk (Clarke 2010). Professor Clarke of the National Security Forum fears that a new wave of lone wolf attacks may erupt in contrast to the larger coordinated terrorist attacks as seen on the World Trade Center.

 The Ministry of Justice queried the figure of 800 radicalised inmates and the assertion that prisons were becoming “universities of terror”. The Ministry stated that of the 6000 inmates in the high security estate there were not as many converts as Professor Michael had supposed. However the Ministry of Justice did not consider the lower prison categories where there are around ten thousand Muslims, when making their deduction.

 A small cohort of prisoners with violent tendencies may choose to adopt a bellicose approach to their new found faith. It is very important to reiterate that most religious converts will not embark on a Jihad mission when released. It is the very few that may possibly pose a security risk.

Currently the proportion of inmates converting to Islam stands at three times higher than that of the Muslim population on the outside. There are about ten thousand Muslim prisoners in prisons in England and Wales, the majority of whom are peaceful and spiritual.

 In category A Whitemoor Prison the percentage is much higher still and more prisoners are converted on a daily basis. There are at least 150 converts in Whitemoor and they are considered to be really “cool” according to a prison officer. It is important to observe that converting to Islam does not automatically imply a path to radicalism or Jihad. Islam preaches many worthy doctrines such as the avoidance of drugs and alcohol. This is in stark contrast to the undisciplined culture of substance abuse in the West that is considered debauched by converts. Hence nightclubs that sell alcohol have been considered to be legitimate targets.

Whitemoor prison is a high security prison in Cambridgeshire where three quarters of inmates have been convicted of murder or are serving indeterminate sentences for public protection. The Friday prayer service at Whitemoor represents the biggest regular gathering of high risk and dangerous prisoners in the entire country. Professor Alison Liebling is Director of Cambridge University Prison Research Centre. She feels concerned about the nascent situation of radicalisation in Whitemoor. Some prisoners convert for self preservation as the religious groups offer protection.

 In Whitemoor a non violent Muslim prisoner complained about their violent interpretation of peaceful Islam. He was subsequently stabbed by the incensed purist inmates for taking such a mild view (Rose 2008). This incident tends to corroborate the premise that inmates are becoming dangerously radicalised warriors rather than paragons of religious virtue. Clearly not all of the converts will embark on a path of destruction and Jihad, though certain verses of the Koran state unbelievers deserve to have their throats cut. This animosity is especially directed towards Christians and those of the Jewish faith. Maybe this is why Jewish born Alison Liebling spoke of having terrifying nightmares after her visit to HMP Whitemoor.

 The anxious Prison Service has now been using psychologists to advise prisoner Imams on how to counteract this trend. The criminologist David Wilson felt that Imams were not stoking the problem in prisons with their benign and harmless teachings in 2001. Professor Wilson has studied the role of Imams within the prison system (Wilson & Spalek 2001; BBC News 2001).On the other hand two Imams were dismissed from prison because of their anti-American comments. One has to appreciate that there is a valid reason for such anti American sentiment in the light of terrible abuses by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The Home Office employs around thirty five Imams for prisoners as Islam is now the second largest religious group in prison today.

Several American hostages were videoed being beheaded in Iraq by al-Zarqawi in 2004. Al-Zarqawi had been previously sent to prison for petty street crime and while inside he read the Koran and emerged calling himself a religious leader (Brisard 2005). Islam is essentially an imperialistic doctrine and preaches that lands of the infidel should be conquered. This jingoistic aim has been borne out by the historical records which estimate that around sixty million Christians and Jews have been killed in Holy Wars waged since the middle ages. The Christians are no better either with their religious crusades of the fourteenth century. These bellicose sentiments might appeal to prisoners who may have tendencies to antisocial behaviour or be at an arrested infantile stage of moral development (Kohlberg 1981).  However one must stress that the human rights abuses in Abu Ghraib are a legitimate reason for such anger against the Infidel.

 It has been noted that some DSPD (dangerous, severe, personality disorder) offenders have a triad of behaviours that includes a fascination with setting fires and childhood cruelty to animals. This is known as the MacDonald triad and has been used to predict sociopathic behaviour by criminologists. (MacDonald 1963).The desire to cause explosions via terrorist acts could be considered as a manifestation of this fire starting sociopathic behaviour.There is  also a worrying link between terrorism and organised crime (Levi 2007).

 A Fatwa is a “holy command”. It has been shown in various experiments that people will obey commands to commit heinous acts if such requests emanate from a perceived legitimate authority. A famous experiment demonstrating unquestioning obedience to authority took place in 1963 where volunteers were happy to administer painful electric shocks to hapless subjects, despite their screams for mercy (Milgram 1963; 1974). The shocks were faked and no one was actually electrocuted. The post war study took place in the context of the Holocaust to try and understand why people obey orders to commit evil deeds. The study was disguised as a fake learning experiment, and the learners were in fact stooges. The sociologist Stanley Milgram was intrigued when the defendants at the Nuremburg trials said that they were “just obeying orders”.   The conclusion was that many people will unthinkingly obey commands from legitimate authority figures even to do harm, as we are hard wired for obedience. This finding has worrisome implications for this analysis of radicalisation and obedience to commands known as Fatwas. It is important to note the distinction between moderate Islam and the term radicalisation to avoid any offence to the holy religion of Muslems. Furthermore, one must note that many Muslems have also been victims of terrorist acts, as in 9/11 and the London bombings.

 The conclusion of this analysis is that the Prison Service should maintain a critical eye on the situation while simultaneously respecting the religious rights and freedoms of worship of prisoners (Neumann 2010).

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