Prisons and Radicalization

Some food for thought (and hopefully start some discussion) concerning prisons and radicalization:

The other prisoners did not take long to warm to him, Abu Ahmed recalled. They had also been terrified of Bucca, but quickly realised that far from their worst fears, the US-run prison provided an extraordinary opportunity. “We could never have all got together like this in Baghdad, or anywhere else,” he told me. “It would have been impossibly dangerous. Here, we were not only safe, but we were only a few hundred metres away from the entire al-Qaida leadership.”

Martin Chulov

ISIS: The Inside Story, The Guardian

"I would hope that this could be a "lesson learned", but I'm not optimistic.  The prison system in the United States is embarrassingly similar, so it should be no surprise that radicalization (and criminal networks) are actively promulgated by prisons themselves rather than deterring future  criminal activity.  Our military POW/detainee system is designed for holding combatants from opposing nation-states, not preparing civilians (former combatants) to reenter society."

Andy Sneegas

Warlord Loop email discussion