Meeting the Challenge of Extremist and Radicalized Prisoners: The Experiences of the United Kingdom and Spain

Abstract

Richard Warnes is a Research Analyst at RAND Europe and Doctoral Researcher at the University of Surrey, where he is examining Western' societies' counter-terrorist measures. He is a former Metropolitan Police Officer and has also served with the British Army. Greg Hannah is a Senior Analyst at RAND Europe, completing Doctoral Research at the UK Defence Academy, Shrivenham on organisational approaches to the development of suicide attack capabilities. He was previously a Senior Analyst for the National Audit Office. In this article, they explore how the prison environment can nurture and facilitate radicalism, contradicting the view that once imprisoned, terrorists are no longer a threat to society. They discuss the challenge posed to the authorities in dealing with extremist and radicalized prisoners by drawing on previous experiences and lessons from the imprisonment of nationalist extremists in Europe, specifically Irish Republican and Basque separatist prisoners. They then look at similar organizational activities by violent jihadists in British and Spanish prisons, to counter the mindset that once imprisoned, such prisoners no longer pose a threat, addressing the dilemma of whether to segregate or isolate violent jihadist prisoners in an attempt to mitigate the future threat of a growth in extremist radicalization within prisons.