France announced just recently inmates who lean toward a jihadist mindset would no longer be allowed to isolate themselves from the rest of the prison population, or receive special counseling and therapy sessions in similar isolated fashion, because such “deradicalization” efforts simply don’t work.
And the finding ought to turn heads in America: the United States has a program that’s based on a similar logic – that you can take the jihad out of the wanna-be if you simply get him alone and counsel him.
The isolated treatment had been France’s way of dealing with jailed jihadi-types, in hopes that removing them from general population would eventually tone down and then correct their radicalized Islamic tendencies.
But the strategy backfired. As IPT reported, it actually had the opposite effect.
From IPT:
“The latest attempt by Western democracies to deal with the ever-growing threat of Islamic radicalization in the prison system has been deemed an utter failure. French officials announced Tuesday that they would no longer isolate inmates with jihadists tendencies from other inmates, or offer therapeutic services or specialized counseling aimed at de-radicalizing Islamic terrorists already in prison.
“They found that the program actually increased the threat of radicalizing inmates into terrorists rather than diminishing it.
“Following a series of terrorist attacks in France, counterterrorism investigators found that a large number of the jihadists had previously spent time in prison for petty crimes. It was there, in the fertile soil of prison, where they were influenced by the radical Islamic teachings of incarcerated members of groups like al-Qaida, the GIA (Armed Islamic Group of Algeria) and ISIS.”
Justice Minister Jean Jacques Urvoas outright admitted the program had been a failure.
Again, from IPT:
“In announcing the suspension of the program Justice Minister Jean Jacques Urvoas admitted the failure: ‘I don’t use the term de-radicalization. I don’t think we can invent a vaccine against this temptation (Islamism).'”
France, in fact, has been a epic failure in the fight against terrorism. The country’s brought forth more soldiers for ISIS than any other country in the West, IPT reported.
But other countries, rather than learning from France’s mistakes, seem more than happy to repeat them.
IPT, once again:
“France is not the only country that has attempted to come up with an program to prevent Islamic radicalization in prison and help rehabilitate those terrorists who have been successfully prosecuted and sent to prison. The United Kingdom previously announced plans to form ‘specialized isolation units’ within its prison system to deal with convicted Islamic terrorists, like Anjem Choudary, who were seen as a danger to the other inmates.”
And here’s where it strikes home: The United States is in on the idea, as well.
As IPT reported:
“The United States also sought to establish a de-radicalization program for potential jihadists. Minnesota U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis devised a de-radicalization program that included hiring researcher Daniel Koehler, who has dealt with the neo-Nazi movement in Germany, to provide counseling and training for both inmates and staff.
“The first inmate placed in the program, Abdullahi Yusuf, was an example of the program’s potential for failure.
“Yusuf was arrested in 2014 when he attempted to board a flight to Turkey to join ISIS and fight in Syria. While awaiting trial, he was admitted to the program for de-radicalization counseling and was allowed to stay in a halfway house instead of in jail. Less than four months later he was removed from the program after he was found with a box cutter.
“Further resistance to the U.S. de-radicalization program came from the defense attorney appointed to represent Adan Abdihamid Farah. Farah was arrested last year as he tried to travel to Syria and fight alongside other Islamic State jihadists. ‘If the de-radicalization is for him (Farah) to moderate his religious beliefs, I can’t do that,’ defense attorney Kenneth Udoibok told the Wall Street Journal.”
Here’s the problem: A leopard can’t change its spots.
Or, as Robert Spencer from Jihad Watch writes:
“‘Deradicalization’ doesn’t work: many such programs are based on the premise that the true teachings of Islam are peaceful, and so all that needs to be done is show the jihadis how they’re misunderstanding the Qur’an and overlooking its teachings of peace, and all will be well. But since the Qur’an and Sunnah are full of commands to make war against and subjugate unbelievers, the idea that jihadis can be ‘deradicalized’ by reference to them is just a myth told to Infidel authorities to lull them into complacency.”