IG REPORT: Islamic Terrorists Lead Religious Services in 25% of U.S. Federal prisons
Prisons are a notorious hotbed of jihad recruitment. Who better to target than the violent, broken and disenfranchised? Why would authorities give violent jihadis access to the general population? In no fewer than five states, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, Muslims make up 1 out of 4 or 1 out of 5 prisoners. Overrepresentation may be partially a product of the success of Islamic dawah or missionary activity in prisons. Islamic prison dawah has produced many converts and at least some terror plots. And it may serve to explain high Muslim prison numbers in some states, but not necessarily in others.
Islamic terrorists lead religious services in a quarter of federal prisons: inspector general report
Audit found inmates affiliated with Islamic State, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab allowed to lead services.
By: Just the News, July 9, 2021:
Inmates convicted on terrorism-related charges or with “known connections to terrorist organizations,” including the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, were allowed to lead religious services at a third of the federal prisons audited by a federal watchdog, raising deep security concerns.
A recent audit by the Justice Department’s inspector general of the Chaplaincy Services Program in the Federal Bureau of Prisons found four out of 12 facilities in which terrorist inmates were eligible to lead religious services.
At three of the facilities, the prisoners were affiliated with Islamic terrorist groups, with at least two leading services “on a regular basis” or a “frequent basis.” One of them was chosen to lead services by other inmate coreligionists “due to his extensive faith knowledge and Arabic fluency.”
This wasn’t the first time the IG found terrorist inmates leading services, the report states, citing a March 2020 audit.
The July report blamed the absence of a “fully-staffed and diverse chaplaincy” for such lapses: The 236 chaplains are about 30 percent below BOP targets. This prompted many institutions to “turn to alternatives such as inmate-led services and heavy reliance on contract faith providers and minimally vetted volunteer faith providers to fill the gaps in the chaplaincy staff. These staffing shortages and alternatives present risks.”
BOP policies don’t restrict “certain inmates from leading services and appear to be inconsistent regarding the level of required monitoring,” the report states. It found only one chaplain who “reportedly took preemptive action to prevent a known terrorist from leading religious services.”
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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.
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