“It’s always case by case,” the spokeswoman explains, but a Canadian intelligence spokesman cautions that “studies carried out in other countries show prisoners who have been converted to radical Islam ‘may appear to have their feelings under control, but are eaten up with anger and resentment.'”
“Radical Islam spread in prisons: Report,” by Fabrice de Pierrebourg for the Toronto Sun:
MONTREAL — There are no plans to isolate prisoners with connections to terrorism in order to avoid the possible indoctrination of the other inmates to radical Islam, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said yesterday.
“It’s always case by case,” spokesman Melissa Leclerc said. “The prisoners are
evaluated upon their arrival. Everything depends on their degree of risk, their needs, and on the rehabilitation programs.”
Leclerc was responding to Sun Media reports yesterday that Canada’s secret
service is concerned by this new phenomenon in our federal prisons — the recruitment and indoctrination of prisoners into radical Islam.
The concerns were unearthed in a “secret” report from the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, prepared in January 2007 and obtained by the Sun Media’s Montreal newspaper, Le Journal.
‘RECENT PHENOMENON’
Although this problem is well documented in other countries — especially in Europe — it’s a “recent phenomenon” in Canada, says Manon Berube, spokesman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
“Canada will not escape the phenomenon of terrorism from within, including indoctrination and exhortation to adopt al-Qaida’s violent ideology,” she said.
From that, one may infer that Canadian authorities are, along with so many others, operating on the mistaken assumption that al-Qaeda has distorted the teachings of an otherwise peaceful religion.
The “secret” report revealed that 59% of individuals imprisoned on terrorism-related charges are mixed with other prisoners — the exception being Milhaven maximum security prison in Bath, Ont.
The rest are kept in isolation, “more often for their own protection than as part of an anti-terrorist policy,” according to the heavily censored 13-page report.
It notes that studies carried out in other countries show prisoners who have been converted to radical Islam “may appear to have their feelings under control, but are eaten up with anger and resentment.”