Radicalization

Students will research and assess two (1) intelligence case study scenarios. Students will be provided the background regarding the case study scenario two weeks prior to the due date. Each student will be required to apply research and analysis methodologies to answer questions contained in the background materials provided to the student. Students are to analyze the scenario data and provide responses to the questions asked in the Scenario data packet. Students are encouraged to work in groups to prepare proposed course(s) of action or recommendations and answers to the group’s study questions. Students will provide their analysis and recommendations in a 3-5 page [single space, ‘Times New Roman’ font] report summarizing their assessments and recommendations.

CASE STUDY #2 (15 Points) –Criminal Justice Intelligence Operations in U.S. Correctional Institutions: Assessing the Threat of Prisoner Radicalization.

Recent stories in the media have provided evidence to criminal justice intelligence investigators, analysts and managers that the threat of radicalization and gang membership in correctional institutions is growing. On May 22, 2009 the New York Times reported“Four Accused of Bombing Plot at Bronx Synagogues,” by Al Baker and Javier C. Hernandez, accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/nyregion/21/arrests.html

The Department of Justice National Institute of Justice Journal made public their “Prisoner Radicalization: Assessing the Threat in U.S. Correctional Institutions by Marks S. Hamm. This report details how during 2005, Kevin James, a California state prison inmate was identified as conspiring to wage war against the United States. Based on interviews with corrections gang intelligence officers it was learned that Kevin James radicalized inmates into joining a prison gang with a terrorist agenda. This report can be accessed at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/224085.pdfor http://www.nij.gov/journals/261/prisoner-radicalization.htm

Other studies by the RAND , “Radicalization or Rehabilitation,” http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR571.html) and the September 19, 2006 FBI Testimony of Donald Van Duyn, “US Prison Environment,” can be located at http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/prison-radicalization-the-environment-the-threat-and-the-responsereveal corrections intelligence operations that (The Correctional Intelligence Initiative) have been collecting and evaluating information that identify planned prison riots, attacks on guards, drug and firearms trafficking from inside prisons. Sharing information among all levels of law enforcement and correctional personnel, FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces facilitate this process.

The links above are baseline documents you can use for your Case Study #2. However, if your research develops more relevant data, please include them in your case study report.

Based upon your case study readings regarding radicalization within U.S. correctional facilities, what is your analysis and recommendations regarding intelligence operations in correctional institutions that will detect and deter prisoner radicalization? If you were a correctional institution intelligence unit manager, how would you effectively deal with not only radicalization, but also the daily protection of correction officers and inmates?