Former prominent Jihadi extremist and founder of Revolution Muslim - a New York City based recruiter group active in the noughties - Jesse Morton has served time in prison for terrorist activity. Today he stands for counter-messaging, prevention, education, training and awareness campaigning and Jesse joins our line-up of speakers for this thought-provoking event.
But Jesse’s journey is definitely not the same for all prisoners. An inquiry in to the way prisons deal with convicted terrorists, amid increasing concerns of radicalisation behind bars, has recently been announced, after a growing number of individuals formed their terrorist intent in prison, under the influence of high-status terrorist prisoners.
More understanding is also needed around the increasing role the internet is playing in radicalisation. Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu recently advised parents and carers to ACT Early and keep a close eye on signs of extremist grooming. There is an increased risk of radicalisation now due to groomers exploiting isolated young people out of school in lockdown, spending more time on the internet.
Only recently, a 16-year-old boy from Cornwall was sentenced to a 24-month youth rehabilitation order for offences against the Terrorism Act after being identified as the leader of a UK cell for a worldwide online extremist group.
How can the extremist education agenda be thwarted in the prison system? Should solitary confinement for terror-related offences be mandatory? Does the deradicalisation process need strengthening and revalidating? Should all prison officers be ‘Prevent-trained’ to be able to better spot those inmates in danger of being exposed to cancerous cellmates, hellbent on turning the prison system into a terrorist training camp? How do we address the issue of online radicalisation? Do ISPs need to intervene earlier? What about freedom of the internet?
These are the key questions that will be addressed on 22nd April at the
CTB365 ‘Radicalisation & Extremism: The Bigger Picture’ online interactive event.
