Article

2005-08-31 Home Front: WoT

FBI agents nationwide have been ordered to conduct "threat assessments" of inmates who may have become radicalized in prison and could commit extremist violence upon their release, according to an FBI letter obtained by The Associated Press. "The primary goal of these efforts is to assess and disrupt the recruitment and conversion of inmates to radicalized ideologies which advocate violence," according to a letter from the acting assistant chief of the FBI's Los Angeles office, Randy D. Parsons.

The agency has been concerned since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that groups with extremist ideologies may be targeting felons as prime candidates for conversion during their time in prison. The agency has worked with prison officials to identify potentially disruptive groups for "some time," according to the letter. "However, recent investigations have identified a clear need to increase the FBI's focus and commitment in this area," Parsons wrote in the letter, dated Friday and obtained Tuesday by the AP. He said the FBI wants to increase its efforts to "identify, report, analyze and disrupt efforts by extremist persons or groups to radicalize, recruit or advocate for the purpose of violence within correctional facilities." Spokeswomen for the FBI's Los Angeles office and for the FBI in Washington, D.C., declined to comment on the letter. Karen Ernst, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Sacramento, confirmed her office is participating in the "threat assessments."

The order comes as an investigation continues into whether a suspected Southern California terror plot originated in a state prison in Folsom, near Sacramento. Three Los Angeles area men, including a parolee from California State Prison, Sacramento, are suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish and National Guard sites. FBI director Robert Mueller warned the Senate Intelligence Committee in February that prisons are "fertile ground for extremists." "The FBI will be going into each institution and assessing each population," said Todd Slosek, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He expects the FBI to examine the department's information on all "disruptive groups," including prison gangs and Islamic organizations. That shouldn't interfere with inmate religious practices, free speech or other rights, Parsons wrote in the letter.

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, said he worries that some inmates are forming radical groups and "putting a veneer on it and calling it Islam." He also said that many inmates who adopt religion in prison emerge less violent.

Authorities said they believe the Southern California plan originated in a shadowy group at the Folsom prison known as Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh. That case arose after 25-year-old Levar Haley Washington and another man were arrested July 5 by police in Torrance, a suburb southwest of Los Angeles, for investigation of robbing gas stations.

Counterterrorism officials in California have said they suspect a list found in Washington's Los Angeles apartment contained potential terrorist targets, although Washington has not been charged with a terrorism-related crime. The list included National Guard recruiting stations, synagogues and the Israeli Consulate. Authorities believe the attacks were to be carried out this coming Sept. 11, George Gascon, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, has said. Washington converted to Islam in the Sacramento-area prison before his parole in November.

Posted by Steve 2005-08-31 10:24|| || Front Page|| [11 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Good! (Yes, it is long since time, but this is the FBI, after all. And perhaps they've been working on this for a while, but for some reason chose not to announce the project until now.)

Posted by trailing wife 2005-08-31 11:43|| 2005-08-31 11:43|| Front Page Top

#2 TW, the FBI didn't announce it, the AP spilled the beans on it from a letter "obtained" by them. Meaning leaked by someone who doen't like it.

Posted by Steve">Steve 2005-08-31 12:44|| 2005-08-31 12:44|| Front Page Top

#3 Farking malcontents.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2005-08-31 12:51|| 2005-08-31 12:51|| Front Page Top

#4 I guess only the FBI can do it, but this seems like something they are eminently unqualified to do. But then DHS or CIA don't seem any better. DOD can't do it because it's domestic...Let's have .com do it!

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-08-31 14:37|| 2005-08-31 14:37|| Front Page Top

#5 This indoctrination of prisoners has been going on for years. Blacks in prisons are prime fodder for radicals like this. Gives them a feeling of belonging and a support group. About time someone, esp. the FBI addressed the problem of these unintended consequences in prisons.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2005-08-31 14:47|| 2005-08-31 14:47|| Front Page Top

#6 It would be time someone introduced Black inmates to the realities of Sudan and made them read those fatwas where some Saudi bigwig (think it was the Imam from the Maccah mosque) tells that slavery is part of Islam. Just for ensuring Blacks knowing avout be their fate under the caliphate. And just for having some Muslim activists being beaten to a pulp.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2005-08-31 15:49|| 2005-08-31 15:49|| Front Page Top

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