From Belgium to Iraq to America, Jihad spreads behind bars.

The Washington Post has a report today on the fertile environment for jihad in Belgian prisons. Proselytizing is rife, says an ex-con, with guards barely aware because they do not speak Arabic. Yet the whole atmosphere of prison life is dominated by Islam, even for non-Muslims:

[P]risoners used exercise hours and small windows in their cells to swap news, copies of the Koran and small favors such as illicit cellphones. Gradually, they won over impressionable youths and taught them to stop drinking and start thinking about perceived injustices such as the invasion of Iraq, the plight of Palestinians or the treatment of their own immigrant families… “If you’re not a Muslim, you feel the need to adapt to the rules,” said Medot, who is not Muslim. When the hour for prayer arrived, everyone was asked to turn off televisions so as not to disturb the faithful.

If the story sounds familiar, it is because we read so recently that the Islamic State (ISIS) was born in a similar environment. The forefathers of ISIS were enemy fighters captured in Iraq who came together in Camp Bucca, a prison for detainees of Coalition forces. There Saddam’s old military forces came face to face with radical Jihadists in an environment in which they could not kill each other. In time, the secular Ba’athists converted to Islam, and assumed many of the leadership positions within the ISIS movement.

In prisons within America, there is a danger of radicalization among Muslim prisoners and those who may be converted to Islam. This is because an organization that certifies Muslim chaplains who preach in Federal prisons is an offshoot of the radical Muslim Brotherhood. This is the Islamic Society of North America, a group mentioned in the list of Brotherhood organizations entered into evidence by the FBI at the Holy Land Foundation trial. It replaces an earlier Brotherhood offshoot, which the Clinton administration allowed to certify Islamic chaplains for Federal prisons until the group’s leader was arrested on charges of assisting the financing of terrorism.

Even among prisoners who are not converted or radicalized, controls on prison life enforced by these Muslim groups prepare those prisoners to submit to Islam. Everyone must stop making noise so as not to disturb the five daily prayers. You can be sure that no one in these prisons will ‘slander the Prophet of Islam,’ as President Obama puts it. The daily rhythm of life becomes complaint with submission to Islam.

As we continue to debate the right response to Islamic radicalism, the dangers of trying to contain it in prisons should be kept in mind. Already we have seen this lead to a fertile ground for further radicalization. Just as there are limits to what policing can do, or what military force can accomplish, there are limits to what can be accomplished with prisons. Insofar as prison is part of the answer, it has to be coupled with a robust program to prevent the spread of radical Islam and to deprogram those who already have adopted it.