Prisons, Terrorism and Extremism

This volumeprovides an overview of intervention and management strategies for dealing with terrorist and extremist offenders in prisons. It focuses not only on current threats but draws critical lessons from historical case studies, and considers the experience of a wide range of countries and of different political movements.

The management of terrorist and extremist prisoners has long been recognised as a difficult problem in prisons. In most countries, such offenders are relatively rare, but when their numbers increase, these prisoners can undermine the effectiveness and safety of the prison system. Of particular note, at a global level there is an increasing recognition of the problem of militant jihadi extremists in prison and their ability to recruit new members among other prisoners. These are not the only politically motivated offeders in the world's prisons but are generally viewed as the most serious problem and the only one posing a challenge to several Western states. The numbers of such prisoners are low but growing and, as a result, prisons are becoming centres of radicalisation; indeed, in some cases, terrorist plots appear to have been based entirely on networks that were radicalised in prison.

This book takes an holistic and wide-ranging approach to the problems and issues raised by terrorist and extremist offenders in prison settings. Critical issues around management strategies, radicalisation, reform, risk assessment and post-release experiences are all explored in detail. The book has an international focus and looks in detail at both contemporary issues and historical cases. Stand-alone cases in various countries are also included, covering regions such as Northern Ireland, Spain, Singapore, Germany, England, Israel and Sri Lanka.

Written by leading experts in the field, this volume will be of much interest to students of terrorism/counter-terrorism, criminology, security studies and IR in general.