France: Radicalization of Muslim Prisoners

Hat tip Avenir de la Culture and Valeurs Actuelles. Translation by Fousesquawk.

The French weekly, Valuers Actuelles, has published an article regarding Islamist radicalization of Muslim prisoners in French prisons. Since the article has a subscriber block on the above site, we are translating an article on the topic from the French site, Avenir de la Culture.

 https://avenirdelaculture.info/articles/la-prison-vivier-dislamistes?utm_source=sidebar

Caption: The radicalization of prisoners. 

14 October 2022

Prison: Breeding Ground of Islamists

by Guillaume Gattermann

The weekly, Valeurs Actuelles, has devoted a long article to a very current problem: The radicalization of prisoners. While the latter is more and more frequent, authorities are confronted by a threat difficult to quantify and detect.

Because, according to a supervisor, "The most dangerous prisoners are less talked about," practicing dissimulation techniques for months, even years.  

"There are dozens who escape vigilance despite their dangerousness," warns an administration official.

However, the commands of rigorous Islam are becoming the daily rule of a growing number of prisoners in certain prisons, explains the editorial staff of the weekly.

Proselytizing and calls to prayer have begun at the Bois-d'Arcy (Yvelines) prison, for example. These rules are spreading in those prisons where Muslims are in the majority, either practicing or cultural, notes a chaplain. Numerous prisoners declare themselves to be without religion or convert to Islam, "either out of conformity or due to inferiority complex".

In another example, at the famous Baumettes prison at Marseille, it is estimated that 90% of the prisoners are Muslims. According to a staff member, Eric Diard, "Islam is omnipresent and rules". But with different profiles. "There are those who are not very intellectual, who believe themselves worthless, and who are told that they count for Allah," he explains.

And then, there are the prisoners with psychiatric profiles. "The Islamists are recruiting more and more among the 'unbalanced', (those) capable of taking action much more easily," notes one psychologist.  The professionals estimate the number of prisoners with psychiatric problems at 30%, as specialized hospitals lack spaces.

But Islamism and radicalization threaten all of the prisoners. According to a Parliamentary report in January 2022, 81% of the prisoners who convert are French, all faiths combined.

The radicalized still represent a tiny part of the prisoners in France. But until when? To identify them, informants are being mobilized in detention centers and prisons. They are being asked to report changes in appearance and behavior: A full beard, radical remarks, refusing to greet women, and regular prayers.

When radicalized prisoners are detected, they are sent to special sections.

As hundreds of those radicalized are reaching the end of their sentences, dozens are leaving prison every month. "Some are more dangerous upon release than upon entering," warns Eric Diard. "They hate the country," adds Cyril Huet-Lambing, regional head of the prison union, SPS.

The task promises to be especially complicated for the intelligence services. "It takes 25 agents to monitor one target, how many will it take to monitor the 500 radicalized (prisoners) who will leave here by 2024?" asks the former deputy of Bouches-du-Rhone. The worry grows at the end of the sentence.

"It only takes a handful to cause a catastrophe in the country," worries a member of the staff who recalls that one attack a day is currently being prevented," according to the leadership of the intelligence services. Alarming.