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| Prisons have new concern: al-Qaida recruitment of inmates |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/23/2003 |
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As a corrections officer at a maximum-security prison in Louisiana, Ricco DiPietro is accustomed to handling inmate attacks on officers, prisoners committing illegal sexual acts and other disciplinary problems. Now he has one more thing to worry about as he patrols the Washington Correctional Institution in Angie: The threat of al-Qaida recruitment of inmates. 'They (inmates) have no remorse,' he said about why there should be concern of al-Qaida recruitment. 'They're against anything that's right.' DiPietro and officers from across the country were in Columbus over the weekend as part of a conference sponsored by the corrections arm of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. FBI supervisory special agent Andrew Black led a program on the threat of al-Qaida recruitment of inmates and said there has not been any documented cases of U.S. inmates joining al-Qaida in prison. Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who is accused of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a radioactive bomb, became a radical after leaving prison, Black said. 'It is cause for concern because the stakes are very high,' he said. Black said al-Qaida operational manuals recovered overseas emphasize recruiting worldwide. Inmates in the United States are a logical source, Black said. They will not attract attention as al-Qaida members from Muslim countries would and many already hate authority, he said. Officers have to be alert for signs of religious extremism, including symbols and literature, he said. Following the 1993 prison riots at Lucasville that left one officer and nine inmates dead, corrections officers in Ohio worked harder to identify gang activity in prison, said Tim Shafer, an officer at the Pickaway Correctional Institution. The information officers learned at the conference will help them as they try to watch for new threats, Shafer said. Ohio prison officials have found prisoners who are members in 1,200 gangs or terrorist groups, including the Islamic-militant group Hezbollah and the Irish Republican Army, said Phil Vermillion, the security threat group investigator for Ohio's prison system. Terrorists using prisons as a source of recruitment makes sense because so many inmates feel like the government is against them, Vermillion said. 'We're really ripe for recruitment,' he said. |
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