Abstract
The proposed study will delve into how the contemporary federal security agents can successfully combat the terrorist organizations within the United States penitentiaries. In particular, the study will aim at contributing to the body of knowledge regarding fighting the domestic terrorism, that is, the terrorism originating from the state and federal correctional facilities. The study will also aim at helping the federal agents avert the recruitment and radicalization of the inmates inside the United States prisons. The study will utilize the survey research design due to its cost effectiveness, generalizability, and efficiency. The research participants will include the security specialists and retired federal security agents. The sample will be drawn through purposive sampling technique. Specifically, these participants will be sent interview requests through email, post-office, and phone. The data will be collected by administering online questionnaires and mailed questionnaires as well as conducting face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews. The collected data will be analyzed through content analysis technique.
Introduction
The United States prisons have turned into recruitment as well as training institutions for the future terrorists. It is disheartening to note that these prisons have become the hotbeds of terrorism as a result of inmates’ recruitment as well as radicalization. According to Dugas & Kruglanski (2014), Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheed’s case at the California State Prison is a good example of radicalization and recruitment inside the United States prisons. The radicalization in the state and federal correctional facilities is essentially associated with the prison gangs. The growing number of radical Muslim terrorists and inmates within both federal and states prisons is a serious problem that needs to be resolved to protect the country against terrorism. In essence, the inmates' recruitment and radicalization in these prisons are a growing crisis, which is taking a toll since innocent citizens are murdered by the ex-convicts who were recruited and radicalized while in prison. The presence of terrorist organizations inside the United States prisons is due to inmates’ recruitment and radicalization. Consequently, there is an urgent need for combating these extremist organizations to prevent the country from future terrorist activities.
Research Problem and Objectives
The research question that I will be researching on during the study is: “In what way can the contemporary federal agents combat the rising terrorist organizations within the United States prisons.” Consequently, the purpose of carrying out the research will be to establish the seriousness of the presence of terrorist organizations within the United States prisons and describe how the contemporary federal agents can succeed in the fight against these dangerous organizations. One of the objectives of the study will be to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding combating the threat from within. The other objective of the research will be to describe how the United States criminal justice system can succeed in the fight against the rising terrorist organizations inside the state and federal correctional facilities.
Review of the Literature
There are different reports and studies that have been carried out on the subject of recruitment and radicalization of the inmates inside the prisons. The United States prisons are among the prisons in the world where radicalization and recruitment of the inmates continue to take place, even in the recent years. As a matter of fact, these prisons have turned out to be the breeding grounds for recruitment and radicalization of the inmates and are characterized by terrorist organizations with extremist religious beliefs. Different scholars have provided the reasons for the radicalization and recruitment of the inmates inside the United States prisons and other country’s prisons. A 2010 report by Neumann P.R. provides a comprehensive analysis of prison radicalization in different countries including the United States. Specifically, Neumann maintains that prisons offer near-perfect conditions in which radical ideologies can flourish. Mulcahy, Merrington, & Bell (2013) support this assertion by maintaining that the extremist ideologies in numerous cases can flourish in the prisons as the inmate terrorists recruit the susceptible prisoners to follow their footsteps. Cuthbertson (2004) suggests that the terrorists who are incarcerated for criminal activities flourish in prison since they can recruit from a continuously regenerating pool of nominees.
Neumann (2010) further suggests that prisons are places of helplessness that produce rebels, protection seekers, and identity seekers more than the other environments. Ideally, this is a strong reason that explains why radicalization and recruitment take place more inside the prisons compared to the other environments. Dugas & Kruglanski (2014) imply that radicalization occurs in prisons due to the uncertainty and humiliation, which come with incarceration. In fact, the humiliation inside the prisons leads to the emergence of very dangerous rebels. It is common for an individual to experience both emotional and physical trauma and become more susceptible to recruitment when in prison (Mulcahy, Merrington, & Bell, 2013). According to Cuthbertson (2004), terrorists belong to the internally cohesive networks and are disciplined and, as a consequence, they train and recruit the prisoners whom they believe are suited for work within their terrorist organization. Terrorist organizations are rampant in the United States prisons thanks to the emotional and physical trauma that the prisoners go through. According to Jones (2014), the gangs inside the United States prisons make the environment very dangerous. A member of a Muslim gang in prison is more likely to adopt the radical beliefs.
The prison administrators in the United States face the increasing problem of inmates’ radicalization due to the influx of convicts comprising primarily the suspected extremists and terrorists who hide behind the Islam religion to carry out their heinous acts. According to Jones (2014), the Muslim prisoners in the United States are about 10% of the entire inmate population. Some researchers insinuate that the Muslim inmates are responsible for the rising problem of radicalization in the United States prisons as well as prisons in the other countries. According to Mulcahy, Merrington, & Bell (2013), there exist two schools of thoughts regarding the literature on Islam in prisons with one of these schools indicating that the relationship between terrorism and inmate conversion to Islam is non-existent and the other indicating that Muslim groups within the penitentiaries are the breeding grounds for the terrorists.
The presence of terrorist organizations in the United States prisons since the earliest times shows that the country has failed in combating them. In fact, Merola & Vovak (2013) found out that most of the correctional facilities in the United States had security threat groups with radical religious beliefs. In point of fact, the cases of prison radicalization as well as recruitment in the United States have been present for numerous decades. One of these cases is the radicalization of Jose Padilla in Broward County prison. Padilla was essentially a member of a Chicago gang and changed to Islam after he served his jail time in a Broward County Prison. In 2002, Padilla tried to explode a radioactive dirty bomb in the country but was unsuccessful. It is vital to note that Padilla was involved with the terrorist organization, Al-Qa’ida. In fact, his attempt to detonate the bomb in the country was a plot by Al-Qa’ida terrorist organization.
Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Shaheed group was created in New Folsom Prison by Kevin Lamar James while still serving his prison term. Notably, this group was a dangerous terrorist organization and was considered a national security threat. James succeeded in recruiting a number of members including Haney Washington (Jones, 2014). Some of these recruits for this group were inmates. It is worth noting that the members of Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Shaheed Gang included both the prisoners and the non-prisoners. The planned terror attacks by this group in the Jewish Synagogues and government institutions did not succeed as its members were arrested. The other case was in New York where there was a terror cell consisting of four Islamist radicals. These Islamist radicals had planned to shoot a plane down, but they failed since they bought a fake missile and explosives from an FBI agent who was working undercover. Notably, three of these radicals were Jailhouse Islam’s products. The fight against prison recruitment and radicalization in the United States has proved futile. In fact, the presence of terrorist organizations inside the U.S prisons attests that inmate radicalization and recruitment still takes place.
Apart from the United States, prison radicalization cases have been experienced in other countries. For instance, in the United Kingdom, there was a prison radicalization case involving Richard Reid famously known as the shoe bomber. Reid was radicalized in a United Kingdom prison. He tried to bomb an American Airline flight from Paris to Miami but he failed (Mulcahy, Merrington, & Bell, 2013). It is important to note that Reid had converted to Islam. The other case of prison radicalization outside the United States involved Jamal Amhidan and José Emilio Suárez Trashorras. The two started following the extremist Islamic beliefs in Spain when they were serving drug offense sentences. According to Cuthbertson (2004), Amhidan was a nonobservant Muslim and Trashorras was a Christian before they embraced the radical Islamic fundamentalist beliefs. Both took part in the Madrid bombings, which killed several people.
Methodology
Research Design
I will utilize the survey research design to investigate in what manner the present federal agents can succeed in combating the increasing terrorist organizations in the United States prisons. In particular, I will collect the data regarding terrorist organizations inside the country’s prisons as well as how to combat them from the research participants through telephone email, and mail as well as in person. The surveys will comprise both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The survey research design will be the ideal design for me to utilize during the study. It is worth noting that surveys will produce empirical data, that is, data that will be based on the real world observations. As a result, this will facilitate the quality of my research. Besides, it will be less costly to carry out the surveys compared to using other research designs. In particular, surveys will produce lots of data within a short period for a quite low cost. What is more, surveys will be more efficient, generalizable, and versatile compared to the other methods. In an attempt to minimize the errors, I will ensure that the items in the survey are to the point as well as clear.
Research Subjects and sample size
The study participants will comprise the security specialists and retired federal agents. In particular, the study will focus solely on these participants due to their better grasp of the issue of terrorism. Interestingly, they will provide the best alternatives to combat the terrorist organizations within the country’s prisons. I will select a sample to use in the study since it will be uneconomical and unpractical to gather the data from the entire population. I will apply non-random sampling since my research methodology will be qualitative. In particular, I will send interview requests to numerous security specialists and retired federal agents via email, post office, and phone. Without a doubt, purposive sampling will help me save time since I will reach my target sample fast. Additionally, this non-probability method of sampling will be economical for me. Furthermore, this non-probability sampling technique will facilitate an intensive study of the participants.
Data Collection
I will ensure that I approach data collection in an ethical as well as rigorous manner. It will be my moral responsibility to seek consent as well as respect the autonomy of every study participant when collecting data. I will also respect each participant’s right to confidentiality as well as abide by all the legal requirements on data protection. I will use questionnaires and interview methods to collect the data. In particular, I will mail questionnaires to the study participants who will not be in a position to meet me in person. I will also send online questionnaires via email. I will use online questionnaires more than mailed questionnaires as their response rate is likely to be higher. I will also conduct in-person interviews and telephone interviews. The advantage of these two methods is that they will allow me to interact with the study participants and seek clarification.
Data Analysis
After collecting the data, I will carefully analyze it in an attempt to generate correct results and make the right conclusions. I will spend significant time here to ensure that I do not miss vital aspects of the data. Specifically, I will identify, inspect, and interpret the themes and patterns in the collected data as well as determine the way these themes and patterns will help answer the above research question. I will utilize content analysis technique. I will try to answer the research question by categorizing as well as indexing the collected data. It is vital to note that this technique of data analysis will help me learn more about terrorist organizations within the United States prisons.
Limitations of the Study
One of the limitations of this study is that it might have validity and reliability problems due to the use of the content analysis method when analyzing the data. The study might also be biased because of the use of purposive sampling. I will do all I can to be as objective as possible in an attempt to solve this problem. Additionally, the time frame might limit the quality of the research. I will manage the available time effectively to evade this limitation. Furthermore, the study participants might be unwilling to take part in the research or be unavailable and, as a consequence, this might adversely affect the research outcomes. I plan to overcome this limitation by using my interpersonal skills to persuade the participants to cooperate throughout the study.
Significance of the Study
The potential significance of the research is that it will contribute significantly to the body of knowledge regarding recruitment and radicalization of the inmates inside the prisons in the United States. In particular, the study will facilitate the fight against domestic terrorism by clarifying what the federal agents need to do to succeed in combating terrorist organizations inside both the state and federal correctional facilities. The research will lead to an expansion of understanding and techniques for fighting the domestic terrorism.
References
Cuthbertson, I. M. (2004). Prisons and the Education of Terrorists. World Policy Journal, 21(3), 15-22.
Dugas, M., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2014). The quest for significance model of radicalization: Implications for the management of terrorist detainees. Behavioral sciences & the law, 32(3), 423-439.
Jones, C. R. (2014). Are prisons really schools for terrorism? Challenging the rhetoric on prison radicalization. Punishment & Society, 16(1), 74-103.
Merola, L. M., & Vovak, H. (2013). The Challenges of Terrorist and Extremist Prisoners A Survey of US Prisons. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 24(6), 735-758.
Mulcahy, E., Merrington, S., & Bell, P. J. (2013). The radicalization of prison inmates: A review of the literature on recruitment, religion and prisoner vulnerability. Journal of Human Security, 9(1), 4-14.
Neumann, P. R. (2010). Prisons and terrorism: Radicalization and de-radicalization in 15 countries. ICSR, King's College London.
