Download COINTELPRO LIVES! - Personal Statement, case review articles

From:
Imam Jamil A. Al-Amin
Ta Sin MIm. These are verses of the Book that makes (things) clear. We rehearse to you some of the story of
Moses and Pharaoh in truth, for a people who believe. Truly Pharaoh was proud and arrogant in the land
and broke up its people into groups, oppressing, small group among them: Killing their sons and keeping
alive their females: For he was indeed a maker ofmischiej: And we wished to be gracious to those who
were being oppressed in the land. To make them leaders (in faith) and make them inheritors, to establish
afirm place for them in the land and to show Pharaoh, Hamam and their Congress, by the hands of slaves,
the very things against which they were taking precautions. (Qur'an 28:1-6)
I begin in the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. I seek Allah's protection from
Satan, the rejected. I bear witness that there is only One God, worthy of all praise and worship, and He is
Allah. I pray that Allah's peace and blessings be upon the Prophet of Allah, Muhammad son of Abdullah,
and his family, and those who follow him. And I am Abdullah, slave of Allah.
I am the seed of the survivors of the Middle Passage; the harvest of those who could not be
broken, would not be broken. The answer of the prayer of the one chained and shackled, buried in
the hull of a slave ship, make to lie in his own waste, up on his neck, he bore the scars of chains,
and up on his body was imprinted the evidence of an unyielding cruelty, human cargo denied the
crumbs of human compassion; a commodity by circumstance, political by birth, I am the son of
that one, the son that rose in the west; the sun that rose in the west.
Allah's way is circumscribed by justice and clothed in mercy. Justice is a master virtue; no light
matter, no civil rights issue, just truth and falsehood, no nicely calculated less or more. Truth comes and
falsehood is perished, and falsehood by its nature is bound to perish.
I am a prisoner of politics in a land controlled by an anglo-american patriarchy, who for time
immemorial has in jurisprudence made justice and law, two different schools of thought, totally unrelated.
Its law, not only flawed, but to people of my common ancestry and heritage, it is a law that is scandalous. A
government that still makes slaves—while protesting smoothly the end of slavery. Bigotry and
unrighteousness have their own crooked ways of pretending to be tolerant. They never let facts get in the
way of a good script Men and women in black robes and in high places, whose hands still are ulcerated
from rope burns, give graphic meaning to the statement of "coming from barbarism to decadence without
going through civilization." A society that produces then glorifies cannibalism; can they be called civilized?
A group that kills its unborn and disrespects its old, can they be called civilized? A gang who kills women
and children in air raids and missile attacks; are they really to be. viewed as civilized? Do the civilized define
people who throw away food, while their neighbor starves, as being of them? Without the ability to define...
language itself enslaves. Baldwin reminds us, " the principles upon which the Englisb language have been
constructed form part of the architecture of the Black man's prison." We think and speak in the language of
oppression. The Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) has said, "If you imitate a
people, then you are of that people." Racism systematically verifies itself anytime a slave can only
become free by imitating his master.
I am a political prisoner; a prisoner of war. In peace strong! In Battle, strongest!!!
I give no authority or legitimacy to the american system of justice because of the gross
human rights violations that this government has, and still commits against the African ascent in
america.
Ck;
My record of struggle is clear and well documented concerning my fight for the right to
self-determination and reparations for African descendents in america.
May Allah show those who disbelieve in. the Day of Accounting, that it is He, and no one else,
who is in control of good.
"0 Allah, to you I complain of my weakness, my littleness of resources, and my unimportance to
people. 0, Most Merciful of the merciful. You alone are the Lord of the weak and you alone are my Lord.
Under whom are you placing me, to someone distant from me [ and my purpose] who looks down upon me?
Or, is it to an enemy whom you have given power over me?
If you are not angry with me, then I do not care what happens to me because your protection of me is
more extensive than that which I perceive.
I seek refuge in the Nur (light) of your wajh (face) by which darkness is given light, and by which all
the things of this world and the Hereafter are rightly ordered, from your anger descending from you upon
me, and from your wrath being permitted for me.
It is for you to be satisfied until you are well pleased (and not for me to be). There is no power, no
might, no strength except from you."
If enthnocide or ethnic cleansing is a crime in Europe, then it is a crime in amerikkka.
Peace be upon those who do good,
Allah's Slave
Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin
A U.S. POLITICAL PRISONER: THE CASE OF IMAM JAMIL AL-AMIN
(H. RAP BROWN)
Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, was sentenced in March
2002 to life without parole in the Georgia prison system. He became involved in the
civil/human rights movement primarily in the southern part of the United States as early as
1962. As a result of Imam Al-Amin' s activism, speech-making, and subsequent May 1967
election as Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), by
August 1967, the United States government labeled H. Rap Brown a target of surveillance
and entrapment programs, specifically COINTELPRO, initiated by then FBI director J.
Edgar Hoover.
During Imam Al-Amin's early years as a public figure, the United States
government and its state and local branches charged and imprisoned him on unfounded
and fabricated charges of counseling to arson, inciting to arson and riot, federal firearms
violations, and bond violations. By 1968, while under house arrest, U.S. Congressional
members and governors were calling for law enforcement to arrest him, and "slam the
doors" of the prisons behind him.
On April 11, 1968, the "Rap Brown" Federal Anti-Riot Act passed as an
amendment to a fair housing bill. This Act against dissent made it illegal to travel from
one state to another, write a letter, make a telephone call, or speak on radio or television
with the "intent" to encourage any person to participate in a riot. The "Rap Brown" Act
would be used against anti-war protesters and resistance groups, including those arrested
at Wounded Knee. By 1970, Imam Al-Amin was placed on the FBI's "10 Most Wanted
List," simply for failing to appear for trial on the fabricated State of Maryland inciting to
arson and riot charges.
From 1971 until 1976, Imam Al-Amin was imprisoned in the State of New York on
charges related to eradicating drug activity in African American communities. Upon his
release, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where he immediately began to establish and
organize a local and national Muslim community. He traveled from 1976 through 2000 to
conferences and conventions throughout the United States, the Sudan, Pakistan, India, the
West Indies, and Saudi Arabia. He served on boards of major Islamic organizations with a
national and international agenda, continued to work to improve communities in the inner
cities of the United States, and served as a broker of peace treaties with street
organizations.
Imam Al-Amin continues to appeal his Georgia conviction as he maintains his
innocence of the murder and assault of two Fulton County Georgia deputies. His habeas
corpus defense has raised numerous grounds for reversal of the conviction and sentence,
including ineffective assistance of counsel, the failure to investigate the confession of an
individual who continues to assert his guilt since March 2000, misidentification, and FBI
misconduct.
Imam Al-Amin filed two lawsuits against the State of Georgia and prison personnel.
One action challenged the warden and staff of the Georgia State Prison at Reidsville for
opening legal mail from his wife, an attorney, outside of his presence. The 11th Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled that the prison violated Imam Al-Amin's First Amendment right by
opening his legal mail.
The second lawsuit addresses the Georgia prison's 23-hour lockdown confinement,
retaliatory actions, restriction of permitting Imam Al-Amin to freely exercise his right to
practice Islam, and his transfer to the ADMAX federal prison in Florence, Colorado. Prior
to the transfer, the Georgia Department of Corrections acknowledged that Imam Al-Amin
is considered a high profile political prisoner and that other inmates desired to have him
serve as the Imam/leader for the Muslim inmates throughout the Georgia prison system. As
a result, Imam Al-Amin was placed in federal custody and moved away from his family,
friends, and legal counsel to an institution with deplorable and inhumane conditions. The
Georgia Department of Corrections used a March 1990 Agreement between the state and
the Federal Bureau of Prisons to have Imam Al-Amin, a state prisoner, placed in federal
custody.
Imam Al-Amin's defense continues to challenge the decision made by the State of
Georgia to move him more than 1,400 miles from his legal counsel at a time when lawsuits
are pending in Georgia. Although the Federal Bureau of Prisons maintains it will return
Imam Al-Amin to Georgia upon Georgia's request, Georgia is refusing to seek his return.
The transfer out of the State of Georgia to a federal institution that operates a behavior
modification program is seen as a punitive action on the part of the government;
consequently, the defense recognizes the necessity to launch a campaign to petition for a
change to a neighboring federal facility or Georgia prison, and out of the SUPERMAX
conditions.
The conditions of Imam Al-Amin' s confinement at the SUPERMAX are harsh. All
prisoners are kept in solitary confinement for at least 23 hours a day. According to a
number of psychologists and other commentators, such perpetual solitary confinement
almost inevitably leads to psychological damage. The cruel conditions of Imam AlAmin's
confinement bear no reasonable relation to his conduct. In this regard, Imam Al-Amin
will continue to challenge the solitary confinement conditions at the "no touch, no
contact" federal prison in Florence, Colorado, as he is housed without a federal charge,
conviction, or sentence.
Contact Information:
The J ustice F und
P.O. Box 115363
Atlanta, GA 30310
[email protected]
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin
Reg. No. 99974-555
USP Florence ADMAX
P.O. Box 8500
Florence, CO 81226
2
From:
Imam Jamil A. Al-Amin
Ta Sin Mim. These are verses of the Book that makes (things) clear. We rehearse to you some of the story of
Moses and Pharaoh in truth, for a people who believe. Truly Pharaoh was proud and arrogant in the land
and broke up its people into groups, oppressing ,a small group among them: Killing their sons and keeping
alive their females: For he was indeed a maker ofmischief And we wished to be gracious to those who
were being oppressed in the land. To make them leaders (in faith) and make them inheritors, to establish a
firm place for them in the land and to show Pharaoh, Hamam and their Congress, by the hands of slaves,
the very things against which they were taking precautions. (Qur'an 28:1-6)
I begin in the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. I seek Allah's protection from Satan,
the rejected. I bear witness that there is only One God, worthy of all praise and worship, and He is Allah. I
pray that Allah's peace and blessings be upon the Prophet of Allah, Muhammad son of Abdullah, and his
family, and those who follow him. And I am Abdullah, slave of Allah.
I am the seed of the survivors of the Middle Passage; the harvest of those who could not be
broken, would not be broken. The answer of the prayer of the one chained and shackled, buried in
the hull of a slave ship, make to lie in his own waste, up on his neck, he bore the scars of chains,
and up on his body was imprinted the evidence of an unyielding cruelty, human cargo denied the
crumbs of human compassion; a commodity by circumstance, political by birth, I am the son of
that one, the son that rose in the west; the sun that rose in the west.
Allah's way is circumscribed by justice and clothed in mercy. Justice is a master virtue; no light
matter, no civil rights issue, just truth and falsehood, no nicely calculated less or more. Truth comes and
falsehood is perished, and falsehood by its nature is bound to perish.
I am a prisoner of politics in a land controlled by an anglo-american patriarchy, who for time
immemorial has in jurisprudence made justice and law, two different schools of thought, totally unrelated.
Its law, not only flawed, but to people of my common ancestry and heritage, it is a law that is scandalous. A
government that still makes slaves—while protesting smoothly the end of slavery. Bigotry and
=righteousness have their own crooked ways of pretending to be tolerant. They never let facts get in the
*
way of a good script. Men and women in black robes and hi. high places, whose hands still are ulcerated froth rope burns,
give graphic meaning to the statement of "coming from barbarism to decadence without going through civilization." A
society that produces then glorifies cannibalism; can they be called civilized? A group that kills its unborn and
disrespects its old, can they be called civilized? A gang who kills women and children in air raids and missile attacks; are
they really to be. viewed as civilized? Do the civilized define people who throw away food, while their neighbor starves,
as being of them? Without the ability to define...language itself enslaves. Baldwin reminds us, " the principles upon
which the English language have been constructed form part of the architecture of the Black man's prison." We think and
speak in the language of oppression. The Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) has said, "If you imitate a
people, then you are of that people." Racism systematically verifies itself anytime a slave can
only become free by imitating his master.
I am a political prisoner; a prisoner of war. In peace strong! In Battle, strongest!!!
I give no authority or legitimacy to the american system of justice because of the gross
human rights violations that this government has, and still commits against the African ascent in
america.
My record of struggle is clear and well documented concerning my fight for the right to
self-determination and reparations for African descendents in america.
May Allah show those who disbelieve in. the Day of Accounting, that it is He, and no one else,
who is in control of good.
"0 Allah, to you I complain of my weakness, my littleness of resources, and my unimportance to
people. 0, Most Merciful of the merciful. You alone are ihe Lord of the weak and you alone are my Lord.
Under whom are you placing me, to someone distant from me [ and my purpose] who looks down upon me?
Or, is it to an enemy whom you have given power over me?
If you are not angry with me, then I do not care what happens to me because your protection of me is
more extensive than that which I perceive.
I seek refuge in the Nur (light) of your wajh (face) by which darkness is given light, and by which all
the things of this world and the Hereafter are rightly ordered, from your anger descending from you upon me,
and from your wrath being permitted for me.
It is for you to be satisfied until you are well pleased (and not for me to be). There is no power, no
might, no strength except from you."
If enthnocide or ethnic cleansing is a crime in Europe, then it is a crime in amerikkka.
Peace be upon those who do good,
Allah's Slave
Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin
A U.S. POLITICAL PRISONER: THE CASE OF IMAM JAMIL AL-AMIN
(H. RAP BROWN)
Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, was sentenced in March
2002 to life without parole in the Georgia prison system. He became involved in the
civil/human rights movement primarily in the southern part of the United States as early as
1962. As a result of Imam Al-Amin's activism, speech-making, and subsequent May 1967
election as Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), by
August 1967, the United States government labeled H. Rap Brown a target of surveillance
and entrapment programs, specifically COINTELPRO, initiated by then FBI director J.
Edgar Hoover.
During Imam Al-Amin's early years as a public figure, the United States
government and its state and local branches charged and imprisoned him on unfounded
and fabricated charges of counseling to arson, inciting to arson and riot, federal firearms
violations, and bond violations. By 1968, while under house arrest, U.S. Congressional
members and governors were calling for law enforcement to arrest him, and "slam the
doors" of the prisons behind him.
On April 11, 1968, the "Rap Brown" Federal Anti-Riot Act passed as an
amendment to a fair housing bill. This Act against dissent made it illegal to travel from
one state to another, write a letter, make a telephone call, or speak on radio or television
with the "intent" to encourage any person to participate in a riot. The "Rap Brown" Act
would be used against anti-war protesters and resistance groups, including those arrested
at Wounded Knee. By 1970, Imam Al-Amin was placed on the FBI's "10 Most Wanted
List," simply for failing to appear for trial on the fabricated State of Maryland inciting to
arson and riot charges.
From 1971 until 1976, Imam Al-Amin was imprisoned in the State of New York on
charges related to eradicating drug activity in African American communities. Upon his
release, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where he immediately began to establish and
organize a local and national Muslim community. He traveled from 1976 through 2000 to
conferences and conventions throughout the United States, the Sudan, Pakistan, India, the
West Indies, and Saudi Arabia. He served on boards of major Islamic organizations with a
national and international agenda, continued to work to improve communities in the inner
cities of the United States, and served as a broker of peace treaties with street
organizations.
Imam Al-Amin continues to appeal his Georgia conviction as he maintains his
innocence of the murder and assault of two Fulton County Georgia deputies. His habeas
corpus defense has raised numerous grounds for reversal of the conviction and sentence,
including ineffective assistance of counsel, the failure to investigate the confession of an
individual who continues to assert his guilt since March 2000, misidentification, and FBI
misconduct.
Imam Al-Amin filed two lawsuits against the State of Georgia and prison
personnel. One action challenged the warden and staff of the Georgia State Prison at
Reidsville for opening legal mail from his wife, an attorney, outside of his presence. The
11 th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the prison violated Imam Al-Amin's First
Amendment right by opening his legal mail.
The second lawsuit addresses the Georgia prison's 23-hour lockdown confinement,
retaliatory actions, restriction of permitting Imam Al-Amin to freely exercise his right to
practice Islam, and his transfer to the ADMAX federal prison in Florence, Colorado. Prior
to the transfer, the Georgia Department of Corrections acknowledged that Imam Al-Amin
is considered a high profile political prisoner and that other inmates desired to have him
serve as the Imam/leader for the Muslim inmates throughout the Georgia prison system.
As a result, Imam Al-Amin was placed in federal custody and moved away from his
family, friends, and legal counsel to an institution with deplorable and inhumane
conditions. The Georgia Department of Corrections used a March 1990 Agreement
between the state and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to have Imam Al-Amin, a state
prisoner, placed in federal custody.
Imam Al-Amin's defense continues to challenge the decision made by the State of
Georgia to move him more than 1,400 miles from his legal counsel at a time when
lawsuits are pending in Georgia. Although the Federal Bureau of Prisons maintains it will
return Imam Al-Amin to Georgia upon Georgia's request, Georgia is refusing to seek his
return. The transfer out of the State of Georgia to a federal institution that operates a
behavior modification program is seen as a punitive action on the part of the government;
consequently, the defense recognizes the necessity to launch a campaign to petition for a
change to a neighboring federal facility or Georgia prison, and out of the SUPERMAX
conditions.
The conditions of Imam Al-Amin's confinement at the SUPERMAX are harsh. All
prisoners are kept in solitary confinement for at least 23 hours a day. According to a
number of psychologists and other commentators, such perpetual solitary confinement
almost inevitably leads to psychological damage. The cruel conditions of Imam AlAmin's
confinement bear no reasonable relation to his conduct. In this regard, Imam Al-Amin
will continue to challenge the solitary confinement conditions at the "no touch, no
contact" federal prison in Florence, Colorado, as he is housed without a federal charge,
conviction, or sentence.
Contact Information:
The Justice Fund
P.O. Box 115363
Atlanta, GA 30310
[email protected]
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin
Reg. No. 99974-555
USP Florence ADMAX
P.O. Box 8500
Florence, CO 81226
2
March 11, 2010
EFIA NWANGAZA
Director, MALCOLM X CENTER 321
W. Antrim Drive
P.O. Box 16102
Greenville, SC. 29607
RE: UNITED NATIONS FIRST UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW OF
THE UNITED STATES, December 2010
Dear Efia and Stan Will:
I am in receipt of your memorandum and procedures of the UNIVERSAL
PERIODIC REVIEW concerning the United States, Political
Repression and its Human Rights Obligations.
You ask that we tell you our "story," where we are legally and
our proposed solution, to organize as a "report" submitted by the
U.S. Human Rights Network to be reviewed by the UNIVERSAL
PERIODIC REVIEW WORKING GROUP, which will consist of 47 members
of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Enclosed please find the following documents, which contains my
casehistory and why I was framed by the political police, to stop
me from conducting my on-field investigations in my capacity as a
Delegate to the UNITED NATIONS COMMISISON ON HUMAN RIGHTS, 49th
Session, General Asembly, March-April 1993 of the
Non-Governmental Organization, the INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY
COUNCIL:
1. my letter of July 4, 2008 addressed to former SECRETARY OF
STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE;
2. copy of AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF submitted by NATIONAL JERICHO MOVEMENT
and RESISTANCE IN BROOKLYN before the INTER-AMERICAN
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS in Washington, D.C. dated February
20, 2009;
By the way, the INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS send
me a convulut_4a r _dletter dated January 7, 2010 telling me that "...It
does not appear from the information provided that you intend to
formally initiate an individual petition," GENERAL INQUIRY
CG-00084-2009, after having sat on my properly prepared "indiVidualL
petition" for over one and a half (11/2) years, demonstrating the same
indifference to human rights
as my tormentors who framed me and who now hold me in captivity.
Please make copies of the enclosures and return my originals at
your earliest convenience.
EFIA NWANGAZA
DIRECTOR, MALCOLM X. CENTER
11 MARCH 2010
PAGE 2
Should you need additional information, or other documents, please
feel free to contact me, or my Defense Committee at the mailing
address indicated below.
Thank you for your time and prompt response to this letter. I
SOLIDARITY,
AL A 0 LUNA HERNANDEZ
# 255735, H ghes Unit
Rt. 2, Box 4400
Gatesville, Texas 76597-0001
alhjr:ipp
CC: MR. JOHN S. DOLLEY, JR.
Coordinator, ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ
DEFENSE COMMITTEE
P.O. Box 7187
Austin, Texas
telephone: (512) 320-0511
e-mail: [email protected]
SARA FALCONER
International Spokesperson RPO
Roncevalles Avenue
P.O. Box 97048
Toronto, ON.
M6R 3B3, CANADA
e-mail: [email protected]
February
,e),
2009
MR. SANTIAGO , CANTON
Executive -cretary
INTER-AM ICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
ORGANI ATION OF AMERICAN STATES
1889
Street, NW
Wa- ington, D.C. 20006
RE: ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ
P-1033-08
UNITED STATES
Dear Sir:
Enclosed please find original set of AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF
and APPENDIX to be filed with the documents in the above entitled and
numbered human rights complaint and case for presenting to the
Commission for its review and inspection.
By copies of this AMICUS BRIEF, without APPENDIX, copies of the
same are this day being served on the parties listed at page 9,
Certificate of Service, at the addresses indicated therein.
Thank you for your time and kind ass stance in this matter.
rel
Amici representative member
NATIONAL JERICHO MOVEMENT
RESISTANCE IN BROOKLYN
339 LaFayette Street New
York, NY. 10012
([email protected])
mm:ipp
XC: MR. BARA
OBAMA
MS. HI
RY CLINTON
MR.
C HOLDER..
MR
ICK PERRY
JOHN S. DOLLEY, JR. S
SARA FALCONER
MR. ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ
•C'
IN THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
NO. P-1033-08
ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ,
PETITIONER, VS.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A AND
ITS POLITICAL SUB-DIVISION § THE
STATE OF TEXAS,
RESPONDENTS.
§
AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF
The NATIONAL JERICHO MOVEMENT and RESISTANCE IN BROOKLYN
organizations respectfully move
for
leave of Court pursuant to Rule
23, RULES OF PROCEDURE, INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, to
submit this amicus curiae brief on behalf of PETITIONER ALVARO LUNA
HERNANDEZ, in this case with his consent. In support thereof, amici would
show unto this Commisison the following:
NATIONAL JERICHO MOVEMENT AND RESISTANCE IN BROOKLYN
AS AMICUS CURIAE'
NATIONAL JERICHO MOVEMENT and RESISTANCE IN BROOKLYN are
national organizations that promote social and racial justice, human
rights, amnesty and freedom for hundreds of men and women incarcerated in prisons
and jails in the United States, who as a consequence of their political
beliefs, and activities in struggling f o r j u s t i c e a n d f o r t h e
s e l f - d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f t h e i r i n t e r n a l colonies oppressed by United
States colonialism and imperialism, were targeted for illegal harassment,
repression and wrongful imprisonment by law enforcement agencies and the
government of the United States of America and its political sub-division
States.
1.
4
Most activists and their movement organizations were "targeted" under
secret, illegal government "counter-intelligence" actions committed in the
name of national security and public order under t h e i n f a m o u s
"COINTELPRO" program, and similar initiatives, d e s i g ne d to
"neutralize" and destroy these social movement organizations and
t h e i r l e a d e r s h i p a n d t o a r r e s t t h e m f r o m struggling for their people's
rights to social and racial justice and to self-determination within
the domestic boundaries of the United States. The racist, genocidal
practices of the United States government cannot be denied - the majority
of these social m o v e m e n t o r g a n i z a t i o n s w e r e c o m p r i s e d e x c l u s i v e l y
o f e t h n i c minorities and other indigenous peoples and groups. COINTELPRO
was investigated by the SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL
OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES (popularly known as
the "Church Committee") which submitted a final report in 1976.
"[T]he origins of COINTELPRO demonstrated that the [FBI] adopted
extralegal methods to counter perceived threats to national
security and public order because ordinary legal process was
believed to be insufficient to do the job. There were innocent
peopléwho were victimized by COINTELPRO. In essence, the Bureau
took the law into its own hands, conducting a sophisticated
vigilante operation against [perceived] domestic enemies."
CHURCH COMMITTEE REPORT, 1976, page 27;
The CHURCH SUBCOMMITTEE concluded that many of the actions
carried out by the government against these social. activists could 1
only be described as "abhorent in a free society."
1. At least two FBI agents, W. MARK FELT and EDWARD MILLER, were convicted
for COINTELPRO crimes but were immediately pardoned by PRESIDENT
RONALD REAGAN before they began to serve their sentpnces.
It is such similar "abhorent" police and governmental practices that
occurred in the ease at bar, now before this Commission, that h a s m ove d ,
s h oc k ed an d c om pe l le d a m ic i t o r ai s e t he i r v oi ce , condemn such racist,
arbitrary and criminal actions committed by the police, ,thegovernment
and the judicial systems in order t silence and wrongfully imprison an
innocent man, and to "criminalize" legitimate political dissent and
organizational activities, in a country that proclaims itself to be the
"citadel" of equal justice under law and representative democracy in the
free world. Amici has a strong interest, therefore, to see that
international social justice is done in this case, and that its government
respect international law and other human rights laws as a rule of law
in the Americas.
PETITIONER ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ is a person officially recognized
by amici, and by other prominent national.and international
organizations, as a human rights activist, a freedom fighter and a
political prison-er incarcerated as a result of his
2
political beliefs and activities while a fre e person. Most notably,
Petitioner's long history of human rights activism is well known, See
www.freealvaro.org, including his status as a Delegate of the "NGO"
(non-governmental organization), the INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY
COUNCIL/San Francisco, California (co–sponsor the NATIONAL
2. Two previous international tribunals organized pursuant to
Nuremberg, Geneva Convention principles. of international law, relative to
the existence. of prisoners of war, politiP4qprisOnOrs in the United
States, convened, heard evidence and issued special verdicts declaring
the United States in violation of international human rights laws. See
SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS, Dec. 9, 1990, Hunter College, New York
City; Oct. 2, 1992, San Francisco, CA.
3.
CHICANO HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, Denver, Colorado), to the 49th Session
of the UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS held in Geneva,
Switzerland in March-April 1993, wherein Petitioner personally
addressed the U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY on questions of human rights
violations in the United States. See U.N. GENERAL
ASSEMBLY HEARING
RECORD, 49tH SESSION, March-April 1993;
Further, in addition to being the source of many other writings on
his case, the most recent book published in August of 2008, edited
by the below-signed amici representative member MATT MEYER entitled
LET FREEDOM RING: A COLLECTION OF DOCUMENTS
FROM THE MOVEMENTS TO FREE
U.S. POLITICAL PRISONERS, PM Press: Oakland, CA., highlights Petitioner
Luna Hernanders! case at the following pages:
1. page 25;
2. pages 234-235;
3. page 566;
4. pages 662-667;
5. page 783;
6. page 829;
A copy of LET FREEDOM RING is being submitted by amici herein as
APPENDIX, accompanying th is pleading for this Commissions review
and inspection.
STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES INVOLVED
Amici is familiar with the facts and human rights claims raised by
Petitioner to this Commission. Those claims, include, among others,
4.
1 criminalization, persecution of legitimate
actions undertaken by Petitioner in exercise of
rights protected under international law, including
violations of the protections accorded United Nations
participants, in Petitioner's capacity as a
Delegate of a NGO before the United Nations
Commission On Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland,
in March-April 1993, 49th Session of the General
Assembly;
2 misuse and abUse.'of state power and the criminal
justice system and penal laws to w r o n g f u l l
c h a r g e , w r o n g f u l l y k i d n a p , arbitrarily
detain and imprison Petitioner and suspend the
fundamental freedoms accorded to all persons to
meaningful use of the writ
of habeas corpus to challenge illegal restraint and
detention, and give state illegal acts the
appearance of law; 3
3 the right to recognition of juridicial personality
(the right to be recognized as a person before
the laws)';
4 the right to personal integrity, and to humane
treatment, including not to be subjected to cruel,
inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment;
5.
the right to freedom from slavery or
involuntary servitude;
6.
the right to personal liberty;
7.
the right to a fair trial and to due process of
law;
8.
the right to equal protection of the law;
9.
the right to judicial protection against violations of
fundamental rights and liberties;
3. This ,Commission should take judicial notice of the decision in United States
v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655 (1992) wherein the U.S. Supreme Court
sanctioned U.S. government agents to kidnap persons in other sovereign
countries, a decision called "monstrous"
by dissenting JUSTICE JOHN PAUL STEVENS. See—also ALLEN E.
SHOENBERGER, THE NOT SO GREAT WRIT: THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
FINDS HABEAS CORPUS AN INADEQUATE REMEDY: SHOULD AMERICAN' COURTS
REEXAMINE THE WRIT? 56 Catholic Univ. Law Review 47
(2006): See also Boumediene v. Bush, 128 S.Ct. 2229 (2008) (U.S.
Military Commissions Act of 2006 held an unconstitutional suspension of
the writ of habeas corpus for Guantanamo Bay "enemy combatant"
prisoners);
5.
10.,the rights of indigenous and oppressed
internal colonies in the Americas, to
independence, self-determination and to
freedom from United States government racist,
colonial and imperialist rule;
11. the right to freedom from the historical crimes
of the United States colonialism and to truth. and
reconciliation of the colonial-settler war crimes
against humanity committed by the United States and
Texas governments against the Chicano, Mexicano
peoples and nation, from the Mexican-American War
of the 1800's, and_ for the de-colonization of the
occupied territories (Texas, New'Mexico, Arizona,
California, Colorado, and parts of Utah, Nevada and
Wyoming);
12. the right to reparations for the horrendous genocidal
war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by
the United States and Texas governments in their
colonialsettZeIr ) and imperialist military
annexation of the Chicano, Mexicano nation and
homeland;
13. for other international rights violations and
colonial crimes this Commission determines w e r e
c o m m i t t e d b y t h e g o v e r n m e n t s o f t h e United
States and Texas against Petitioner, his family
and the Chicano, Mexicano peoples and nation;
CONCLUSION
While the United States government is quick to condemn human rights
violations in countries 6tich as Cuba, China, Russia and in other parts
of the world, it-hypocritically ignores and tramples upon those same
human rights of its citizens within its domestic territories in the
Americas, especially , those human rights of ethnic minority and
indignenous peoples and nations. See AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL,
www.amnesty,orgiailib (1998).
PETITIONER ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ is an "unsung hero" with a
6.
history of human rights activism in the United States and internationally.
The infamous Alpine Police kidnapped Petitioner and falsely charged him
with a "criminal offense", as a pretext,
a bogus charge later dismissed. At his criminal trial, many defense
witnesses testified about the special hatred police had against Petitioner,
labeling him a "troublemaker" simply because of his community activism. The
police were determined to stop Petitioner f r o m " a g i t a t i n g " t h e
c o m m u n i t y o n i s s u e s o f p o l i c e a b u s e a n d brutality against citizens by
police. They wanted to silence Petitioner in his organized efforts to re-open
the Alpine Police murder of ERVAY RAMOS, a 16-year:. old Chicano youth murdered
in cold-blood by known, racist policeman BUD POWERS in June 1968. The
RAMOS case was cited by the U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS
in its 1970 report entitled MEXICAN AMERICANS AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF
JUSTICE IN THE SOUTHWEST, pp. 4-6, U.S. Printing Office, GAO, Library of
Congress (1970). See also EXHIBITS accompanying original human rights
complaint in this case.
This Commission needs no reminder of the recorded historical legacy of
white-colonial-settler injustices, genocide and Texas Ranger-style brutality
against Chicanos committed since the colonial o c c u p a t i o n o f t h e i r h o m e l a n d
d u r i n g t h e e x p a n s i o n i s t M e x i c a n - American War of the 1800's. Such
injustices and brutality have continued unabated to this very day, of which
Petitioner is another social victim of. See EXHIBIT A - TESTIMONIO: A
DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE MEXICAN A ERICAN STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
(2000)(previously submitted).
7.
Amici is certain that once this Commission becomes thoroughly
familiar with all the facts and circumstances of this unique case now before
it, it will be equally outraged to learn of the flagrant violations of the
fundamental, international human rights of Petitioner and render fair
judgment condemning the totalitarianism of the governments of the United
States and the State of Texas, their employees and agents, and
order.Tetitioner released from further illegal restraint and
confinement, and to compensate him for the horrendous crimes committed
against him, and his family, in the name of the "criminal 4ustice system"
of :the United States, in that law and justice so require under international
law.
Signed and subscribed this f d"D day of
February
, 2009.
MEYER
Representative-Member Pro Se
NATIONAL JERICHO MOVEMENT
P.O. Box 1272
New York, NY. 10013
[email protected]
www.thejerichomovement.com
RESISTANCE IN BROOKLYN
339 LaFayette Street New
York, NY. 10012
[email protected]
AMICUS CURIAE PETITIONERS PRO SE
8.
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
This is to certify that a true and correct copy of the above and
foregoing AMICUS CURIWBRIEF, without APPENDIX, as been mailed, via
U.S. Mail, postage prepaid, on this the . "
day of
February, 2009, addressed to the following persons:
MR. BARACK OBAMA
President, USA
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20510
MS. HILLARY CLINTON
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State .7th
Floor, Office S, HST 2201 C.
Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
-MR. ERIC HOLDER
U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
10th Street & Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20530
-MR. RICK PERRY
Governor, State of Texas
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-1849
MR. JOHN S. DOLLEY, JR
National Coordinator
Committee To Free Alvaro Luna Hernandez
P.O. Box 7871
Austin, Texas 78713
M S . S A R A F A L C O N E R
International Representative
Committee To Free Alvaro Luna Hernandez
P. O . B o x 9 7 0 4 8 RPO
Roncevalles Avenue
Toronto, ON. M6R
3B3 CANADA
-MR. ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ
TDCJCID NO. 255735
Alfred D. Hughes Unit
Rt. 2, Box 4400
Gatesville, Texas
9.
4th of July, 200
CONDOLEEZZAR10E
Secretary ;of State
U.S. Department of State
2201.C,'Street, N.W.
7th:. Floor, Office S, HST
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
The Associated Press, and other media outlets, nationally and
internationally, recently reported your verbatim statements about
being "deeply disturbing to the United States," the recent sentencing
by the government of China, of Chinese civil rights activist HU JIA,
to 31/2 years in prison for allegedly "inciting subversion of state power"
against China's rule.
Further, you have also been quoted in the same media about the alleged
violations of human rights by the government of China, in connection
with the uprisings in TIBET, in the wake of other protests against
China and the scheduled Olympic games to open in BEIJING, CHINA, next
month.
This letter is not in defense of, nor to denounce the policies of
the government of China, nor its human rights record around the world.
It is about the utter, naked hypocrisy of you, and the government of
the United States of America, and its double standard of justice, when
applying norms, customs and other standards of international law and
other human rights accords, treaties and standards around the world,
and domestically as applied to citizens of the United States.
It is indeed inspiring to hear that you, in your capacity as Secretary of
State, have pronounced your displeasure with the alleged injustices,
human rights violations, and the imprisonment of political prisoners
in CHINA, CUBA, RUSSIA and in other parts of the world, such as in the
HU JIA case. However, with the same passion, you should equally denounce
the gross violations of the human rights in ABU GHRAIB PRISON,
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA, PELICAN BAY PRISON (California State Prison),
HUGHES PRISON UNIT (Texas State Prison), U.S. ADMINISTRATIVE MAXIMUM
(Federal prison in Florence, Colorado), and many other state and federal
prisons
and jails in the United States where prisoners are being tortured daily
in these "control units," like I am now being tortured here at Hughes
Unit, behind the IRON CURTAIN that insulates human rights abuses from the
eyes,.and.ears of:: the public.and the entire world community, of which your
silence contributes thereto. Your double standard of application of
international human rights laws, norms, customs and standards is crystal
clear to the world community. You speak with a "forked tongue." For example,
despite
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State 4th
of July, 2008
PAGE 2
recent United Nations reports on the torture and human rights abuses
of detainees in GUANTANANMO BAY, CUBA, and in "SUPERMAX" prisons in the
United States in violation of the UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT, ratified
by the United States government on October 21, 1994, you have lend a
blind eye and a deaf ear to such brutality and egregious abuses of
human rights. You have also kept your silence about the SPECIAL VERDICT
OF THE SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS OF
POLITICAL PRISONERS, PRISONERS OF WAR, HELD IN U.S. PRISONS AND JAILS,
held on December 7-10, 1990, at New York. City's Hunter College, where
the Tribunal, after accepting jurisdiction pursuant to the principles of
international law adopted by the world community, found violations of
our human rights, and called, "...on the
U.S. government to release all prisoners who have been incarcerated for
the legitimate exercise of their rights of self-determination or in
opposition to U.S. policies and practices illegal under international law."
Id. SPECIAL VERDICT; The Tribunals' Coordinator was DR. LUIS NIEVES
FALCON, PUERTO RICO; the Special Prosecutors were LENNOX HINDS, JAN
SUSSLER, ROBERT BOYLE, BRUCE ELIISON, and ROGER WAREHMAN, all licensed
attorneys at law. Counsel to the Tribunal were DANIEL NINA and RICHARD
HARVEY. Emphasis on our as indicated above, is due to the fact that I was,
and am, a PRISONER . '. PARTY PETITIONER to the Tribunal, as represented
by the COMMITTEE TO FREE ALVARO HERNANDEZ, and the MOVIMIENTO DE LIBERACION
NACIONAL MEXICANO (Movement for National Liberation -Mexican). See also
WWW. [email protected];
As to my current imprisonment, I am in a Texas prison serving
a fifty (50) year sentence, after a finding of guilty by a jury for
the offense of aggravated assault against a Sheriff, assessed in July
1997 in Odessa, Texas, after a change of venue for purposes o f t r i a l
f r o m A l p i n e , B r e w s t e r C o u n t y , T e x a s . S H E R I F F J A C K MCDANIEL (now
deceased) was in the act of shooting and, possibly murdering me when he pulled
out his weapon on me. I had no weapon. I only disarmed him in self-defense
and fled. I never shot him, nor phsyically injured him in any way. Nor
did I threaten him. I only fled in fear of my life from a racist,
murderous police force, with a long history of police brutality and
murders of Mexican American youth in Alpine, Texas. The Alpine police
was well aware that I was documenting cases of police brutality and other
abuse by the police in the county to expose. I was also in the process
of documenting witnesses and was to call for federal
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State 4th
of July, 2008
PAGE 3
intervention by the U.S. Department of Criminal Civil Rights Division in
the Alpine police murder of a friend of mine, 16 -year old ERVAY RAMOS,
shot and killed by policeman BUD POWERS in June of 1968. I was with
the young RAMOS on that tragic night when he lost his life at the
hands of a known racist police, with a history in Alpine of racism
against Mexican Americans. I was an eyewitness to this murder. However,
POWERS never served a day in jail, and was assessed five (5) years
probation by state courts. He was never prosecuted for federal criminal
civil rights violations under Title 18 United States Codes, Sections
241, 242, & 243, The Alpine police murder of ERVAY RAMOS was included in a
1970 report by the U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS,
entitled, MEXICAN AMERICANS AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE,IN THE
SOUTHWEST, at pages 4-6, available from the Librry2 of Congress, U.S.
Printing Office, in Washington, D.C.
The Alpine police feared my human rights activism, and framed
me in order to silenceme whemthey were unable to assassinate me. In 1977
I was responsible for the federal criminal civil rights convictions of
PECOS COUNTY CHIEF DEPUTY SHERIFF MIKE HILL, AND DEPUTY SHERI FF
WILLIAM " BILL" M ARE, for t heir b rutality against me and three (3)
others in Fort Stockton, Pecos County, Texas. HILL and MABE were
prosecuted and found guilty in the U.S. District Court, Western
district of Texas, Pecos Division, in 1977-78. They were sentenced to
one (1) year, probated. The Assistant U.S. Attorney that prosecuted HILL
and MABE was JOHN M. PINCKNEY, III, now in private practice in San
Antonio, Texas. As a result of that beating, I filed, and won, a federal
civil rights lawsuit for monetary damages against said deputy sheriffs,
Sheriff PETE TEN:EYCK and the COUNTY OF PECOS. See Hernandez v.
Sheriff Ten Eyck, Civil Action No. P-77-CA-06, W.D. Texas, Pecos
Division;
Further, the Alpine Police are no strangers to the federal court system.
Former Alpine police and former Presidio Count y Sheriff RICK THOMPSON,
and former Alpine Police Chief D.A. MOSELEY., were both convicted in
federal court in Midland, and Pecos, respectively, for running criminal
drug enterprises. My long history of successful civil rights activism
includes Hernandez v. Sheriff Jim Skinner,
Civil Action NO. P-77-CA-30; Hernandez v. Judge Kenneth DeHart, Civil
Action NO. P-97-CA-030, W.D. Texas, Pecos Division, among other state
and federal civil rights lawsuits.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Secretary of State
U.S. bepartment of State 4th
of July, 2008
PAGE 4
My political-social organizational activities, as a civilian, and
a free person, include the following:
1. National Director, NATIONAL MOVEMENT OF LA RAZA, a community based
group dedicated towards the empowerment of Chicanos and Mexican
Americans (not to be confused with the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA,
Washington, D. C.), with its home base in Houston, Texas.
2. I was NATIONAL COORDINATOR of the RICARDO ALDAPE GUERRA DEFENSE
COMMITTEE, Houston, Texas, the community group that instigated the
MEXICAN CONSULATE in Houston to take a more active role in assisting
and defending Mexican national ALDAPE GUERRA, and who spearheaded
the movement fight to protest and to free ALDAPE GUERRA from Texas'
death row, framed for the killing of a Houston police. See Guerra
v. Johnson, 90 F. 3d 1075 (5th Cir. 1997)(police, prosecutorial
misconduct led to conviction of the innocent GUERRA, death sentence
reversed);
3. I was DIRECTOR of the PRISONERS' SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE and the
STOP THE VIOLENCE YOUTH COMMITTEE, Houston based.
4. I was a DELEGATE of a NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION ("NGO"), t h e
NGO INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY COU NCIL, San Francisco,
California, to the 49th SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN
RIGHTS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY, held in GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, in March-April
1993, where I personally addressed the Member States of the General
Assembly on human rights issues. related to the United States
government's dismal record of such abuses, in the h earing pre sence of
MS. GERALD INE FE RARRO, U.S U nite d Nations Representative in 1993. The
head of our Delegation was RIGOBERTA MENCHU, GUATEMALA HUMAN RIGHTS
ACTIVIST, and recepient of NOBEL PEACE PRIZE for her human rights work in
GUATEMALA. See WWW.freealvaro.org;
It is in my "capacity" as a NGO Delegate that I was documenting the
case of human rights victim ERVAY RAMOS in Alpine, Texas, that the
police wanted to silence, and did silence. See State
of Texas v. Alvaro Luna Hernandez, Cause No. 3283, 394th District Court,
Brewster County, Texas, (many defesne witnesses, including media
persons, former police, and others testified about my human rights
activism and my documenting of the ERVAY RAMOS case; my entire trial
transcripts are available for review by you and
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State 4th
of July, 2008
PAGE 5
any interested party, or tribunal); I have pursued legal remedies in
both State and Federal court systems, all to no avail. See
Hernandez v. State,. 24 SW 3d 846 (Tex.App.-ElPaso 2000, pet. ref');
Hernandez v. Dretke, 125 Fed. Appx. 528 , 2005 WL 361812 (5th Cir. 2005).
cert. denied,
U.S. , 125 S.Ct. 2969, 162 L.Ed. 2d 894
(2005); However, probable cause and reasonable suspicion exists to
conclude that evidence of my actual innocence and of other police and
prosecutorial misconduct, and other evidence, was withheld from my
defense. For example the initial charge that led Sheriff McDaniel
to my home, which triggered all these, was later dismissed when I proved
my innocence and police and prosecutorial misconduct. Therefore, the
Sheriff had no legal right to trespass upon my property and his alleged
"order of arrest" was bogus and invalid, which led to me disarming him
in self defense. At my trial, the State's. own evidence showed a consistent
pattern of ongoing police harassment against me, and the police being
disturbed by my presence in the county, and the "documenting" of cases
of police brutality against them. I was constantly stopped by police
unlawfully had my automobile searched, without probable cause, numerous
times, without having been issued not even one citation for traffic
infractions. To add insult to injury, unbeknown to me, during my trial,
the State and Federal governments were investigating my criminal
defense attorney, retained by my family, for criminal drug enterprise
involvement, and months after I was found guilty
my attorney, JOSE ANTONIO "TONY" CHAVEZ was indicted and convicted in
the federal court in Pecos, Texas, on said charges in
United States v. Jose Antonio Chavez (Aka Tony), NO. P-98-CR-107 (8),
W.D. Texas, Pecos Division, and sentencedto 30 months in federal prison
and disbarred from the practice of law. See In The Matter of Jose
Antonio Chavez, Misc..Docket No. 99-9172, Oct. 6, oct. 19, 1998,
respectively.
It is no secret that the U.S. government has a long history of murdering,
brutalizing and wrongfully imprisoning hundreds of men and women as a
consequence of our political ideas, our activities and our movement and
political affiliations. The U.S. government has systematically targeted
social and political movement organizations with illegal harassment,
repression, and wrongful incarceration for many years, in order to
"criminalize" our legitimate movement activities and organizations, to stop
and arrestour pursuit of justice and our rights and our
self-determination, protected under international laws and other human
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State 4th
of July, 2008
PAGE 6
rights covenants adopted by the United Nations. You are well aware
of the infamous COINTELPRO (COUNTER INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM) of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, and published in: the SENATE SELECT
COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE
ACTIVITIES, popularly known as the "CHURCH COMMITTEE," which submitted
a final report in 1976:
"[T]he ori gins of COINTELPR O demon strated th at the Bureau
adopted. extralegal methods to counter perceived threats to
national security and public order because ordinary legal
process was believed to be insufficient to do the_job. There
were innocent people who were victimized by COINTELPRO'. In
essence,the Bureau took the law into its own hands, conducting
a sophisticated vigilante operation against [perceived]
domestic enemies."
CHURCH COMMITTEE, Page 27; 1/
As in the HU JIA case, are you not equally "disturbed" that I am an
innocent man languishing in a "control unit" in a Texas prison,(See Ruiz
v. Johnson, 37 F.Supp. 2d 855, at 940 (S.D. Texas, Houston Division March
1, 1999) the continuing torture inflicted on me by Texas prison authorities
at the Hughes Unit, conditions that have not changed since March 1, 1999,)
with a parole eligibility date of 2021 for defending my own life and
defending the human rights of others ?
Are you not equally "disturbed" that my ten (10) yera old son, ALVARO
HERNANDEZ, III, was taken from me, and my family, by Texas',. CHILDRENS
PROTECTIVE SERVICES, and me and my family destroyed by the police and
the judicial system ? See In.Re ALB, III, 214 SW 3d 45 (Tex-App.—El
Paso, Oct. 26, 2006, reh'g denied, pet. ref'd, Feb. 7, 2007,
Texas.Supreme Court);
1. Two FBI agents, W. MARK FELT and EDWARD MILLER, were convicted for
COINTELPRO activities and were immediately pardoned by President R ea g an be f or e
t h ey b e ga n t o ser v e th e ir s e nt enc e s. T h e Al p in e P o l i c e , l i k e t h e U . S .
G o v e r n m e n t , h a v e a h i s t o r y o f t a r g e t i n g t h e CHICANO MEXICANO power and
freedom movements in this country, especially during times of great social strife
in the nation, to stop "militant" activities. See, THE DIALECTICS OF REPRESSION:
THE LOS ANGELES POLICE D E P T . A N D T HE C H I C A N O M O V E M EN T , J o u r n a l o f A me r i c a n
H i s t o r y , Escobar (1993).
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
4th of July, 2008
PAGE 7
You speak of HUMAN RIGHTS, but those mean nothing to you when i t
c o m e s t o c i t i z e n s o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s . Y o u a r e m o r e interested
in "defense" of human rights, only when it involves other governments,
that do not say "UNCLE SAM," nor who dance to the tune of the U.S.
government, and is more aligned with the "politics" of the Republican
Right Wing than anything else.
I am attaching portions of my trial court statement of facts so
that you can read for your self that I am not telling you fabrications.
(Both Cause # 3268-dismissal, and # 3283-trial);
Please accept this letter as my request for a full and fair
investigation by the United States Government, the Senate Judiciary
Committee, the House of Representatives Committee
on the Judiciary, concerning my polit ical imprisonment; and as my
request for exhaustion of my domestic and administrative remedies in
prelude to the filing of a complaint with international human rights
organizations and the United States Government, for violations of my
human rights under international law, and for the wrongful
imprisonment of an innocent man, and a political prisoner by the State
of Texas.
In conclusion, I end this letter with the quote apropos for this Fourth
of July day:
"What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?
I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days
in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he
is the constant victim.
To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an
unholy licen se; your n ationa l gr eatness, swe llin g vanity,
your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your
denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts
of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns,
your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade,
and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception,
impiety, and hypocrisy -a thin veil to cover up crimes which
would disgrace a nation of savages.
There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more
shocking and bloody than are the people of these
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State 4th
of July, 2008
PAGE .8
United States, at this very hour.
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the
monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South
America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the
last, lay your facts by the side of the. everyday practices
of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for'revolting
barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America -reigns without a
rival."
- FREDERICK DOUGLAS,
former slave and leader in the
fight against slavery, 1852
TDCJ NO. 255735
Texas Hughes Prison Unit
Rt. 2, Box 4400
Gatesville, Texas 76597
alh:ipp
XC: PRESIDENT GEROEGE W. BUSH
PATRICK LEAH'-,:, CHAIR, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE JOHN
CONYERS, CHAIR, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY UNITED
NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOON
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA, PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE-D
G E RA L DI NE F E RR ARO , 1 99 3 US U N R EPR E SE N TA TI V E HUMAN RIGHTS
WATCH
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
INTER-COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE, HAGUE, NETHERLANDS,
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, MEXICO CITY (other
media, groups and interested parties)
From Katrina to Haiti: Tragedies that Travel Fast
By Khalfani Malik Khaldun
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments
of txqnfort and convenience, 2`,!.;
a 0f-7,7s of
challenge and controversy."
—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Revisiting Katrina
The U.S. government still carries the burden for mistakes made prior to and after
the deadly aftermath of the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. Countless women, men,
children and babies were left dead from the carnage. New Afrikan families were
destroyed and many families lost homes and their right to land.
Revelations would surface that FEMA gave away $85 million in supplies intended
for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The supplies sat in warehouses for over two
years, with the storage costing FEMA more than $1.1 million a year, according to
agency officials. Many of the items were donations from corporations. FEMA gave
away 121 truckloads of items to cities, schools, and food banks.
When tragedies like this happen, people come out of the woodwork to take
advantage of the weak, the meek, and the less fortunate. Rhonda Tawey, a white
woman and Red Cross worker had helped (allegedly) a Black family with two
Black female survivors and her children. However, Ms. Tawey kidnapped the
children even though the mother expressed a desire to move back to devastated
New Orleans. Tawey ran away with the children and eventually negotiated
surrender with law enforcement officials, saying the mother mistreated the
children and threatened her.
Rev. Charles Steele Jr., President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
observed that racism remains a problem in the crescent city. Racism was there
before the storm hit and it remains there after the storm, he said. The long term
discrimination and historic racism in the U.S. remains at the core of the lack of
action and commitment to bringing Black families back td New Orleans.
While some survivors have managed to receive help to stabilize their lives, other
survivors of this tragedy will not receive help without a struggle. New Afrikan men
and women and any people of color that adhere to revolutionary morality must
support survivors all across this country. We must say to the U.S. "never, ever
again." George W. Bush didn't give a damn about the countless deaths of New
Afrikan people. Post-Katrina hundreds of new Afrikan children disappeared.
In light of the child predators being busted all over the world, we must strongly
re-emphasize that we must protect our children.
Genuine Support for Haiti
For a long time I wondered why the U.S. government wouldn't allow Haitians
fleeing Haiti to enter this country. They are always returned. The political
machine has a racist agenda where it concerns the Haitian people. The recent
earthquake that rocked Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince caused massive destruction
and hundreds of thousands of casualties.
What is not being talked about in these chaotic times is the U.S. meddling for fear of
and from a Black Republic in 1803, when slaves rose up and defeated their . French
masters in a guerilla war. During that time Napoleon's army was one of the greatest
in the world. He sent his brother-in-law to put down the rebellion and re-assert
French control over the most lucrative of its colonies. Napoleon's brother-in-law
died and so did outright French rule.
Napoleon was absolutely clear on his reason for moving to try to crush the rise of a
Black Republic in Haiti: "My decision to destroy the authority of the Blacks in Saint
Dominique (Haiti) is not so much based on considerations of commerce and money,
as on the need to block forever the march of the Blacks in the world."
Afrikan people all around the world and those friends and supporters that embrace
our existence should be whole-heartedly behind all relief efforts to save the
survivors of this tragedy. Having witnessed the first days after the tragedy struck
Haiti, and seeing the mountains of dead bodies, there is no excuse for those in the
position to aid this call to do nothing.
With the U.S. government taking the lead, his horrific crisis presents the
challenge and opportunity for the world to mobilize massive resources to rebuild
Haiti as an expression of historical gratitude. This plan of global relief must be
devoid of the failed IMF and World Bank policies that have crippled Haiti's
development efforts in the past. First and foremost, this plan must address Haiti's
vision of its future based on a blueprint crafted by the Haitian people. People of
Afrikan descent must mount a massive, coordinated effort to revive and rebuild
Haiti. Haitians in the U.S. are already in motion through musical talent Wyclef
Jean's Yele Foundation and a myriad of local, state and regional efforts across the
country. The Haitian community is energized and organized. Their challenge is to
mobilize and organize U.S. Blacks, Carribbeans, Afro-Latinos and continental
Africans to contribute to the relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in an
unprecedented expression of kinship and solidarity with our Haitian brothers and
sisters,
Dr. Ron Daniels, President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and
founder of the Haiti Support Project, delivered a speech on Jan. 20, 2010 in which
he noted that for 15 years building a constituency for Haiti in the U.S. has been
the unique mission of the Haiti Support Project of the Black World 21st Century.
Ezili Danto of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network stated, "that's my blood
down there; we asked for conscious emergency relief with human rights and dignity
and we got 12,000 marines instead. We want to see Haitian-led, Haitian capacity
building in Haiti. We know our traditional enemies are not going to become our
friends because of this catastrophe." She continued, "I can't say to__ you that we
need your power; we need your help and we need you to be sure to stand not with
bourgeois democracy because that's what Jean Jacques Dessalines stood against; he
was for universal freedom where the assets-of the country should be equally divided
with the people of the country."
Children the Most Precious Resource
When events resulting in major destruction occur like earthquakes or tsunamis,
children become a primary focus for those who exploit or manipulate children
through sexual slavery rings, child pornography, or even black market organ
trafficking. Right now news reports are highlighting some European or white people
traveling to Haiti for the purpose of engaging in manipulating poor mothers to sign
over or give release custody of their children. Yes, there are white people who are
genuinely going there to adopt a child to give them better lives. But there are some
who are trying to convince the mothers of these starving Haitian children to give
them over so that they can sell these beautiful, innocent children for large sums of
money.
What is further disturbing to me is that it seems that Black people here and abroad
have not stepped up en masse to adopt some of these children. Those of you who
are economically stable enough to help should do so. We must never make it easy
for our children to be abused or victimized.
A group of white women belonging to an orphanage called New Life Children's
Refuge entered Haiti and convinced 33 Haitian mothers to sign a release giving
custody of their children to the group. However, this group didn't follow the rules
for legal adoptions and were arrested. I'm not a rocket scientist, but why would the
head of this group try to leave the country without following proper procedure if
they were not trying to kidnap these children? Trying to smuggle these children to
the Dominican Republic reeks of deceitful intentions. They are now facing possible
counts of kidnapping by the Haitian government.
There is a black market for the trafficking of young children. We must keep our
eyes on Haiti and demand that the Haitian children not become auctioned off like
cars on an assembly line. We cannot keep saying children are our future while they
are taken away from us. The time to act is now.
The People Demand
 New Afrikans should go to Haiti and adopt a child or two and make it your
mission to raise and love them with proper care.
 Demand that all New Afrikan churches immediately aid the Haitian relief
mission with whatever resources they have available.
 Demand that President_Obama ensure that _the U.S. government aid the
reconstruction of Haiti and engage in no effort to exploit or colonize the country.
 That once Haiti is restored and on its feet that all U.S. forces and its allies leave
Haiti to stabilize and stand on its own.
 That all debts be resolved that Haiti may own currently and will owe after the
reconstruction.
 That Haitian children and babies be protected from sexual predators or alleged
religious organizations looking to exploit the people and children.
 The New Afrikan people and people of color become allowed to have first
opportunity to adopt any children.
I'm hoping this will add to the mountain of dialogue arising on Haiti and relief
efforts. He struggle continues.
Bro. Khalfani Malik Khaldun
(Leonard McQuay)
874304 A 706
PO Box 1111
Carlisle, IN 47838
of the Shadows 

Getting Ahead of Prisoner Radicalization
A Special Report by
The George Washington University
Homeland Security Policy Institute
The University of Virginia
Critical Incident Analysis Group
Critical Incident Analysis Group
Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI)
and Critical Incident Analysis Group (CIAO)
Prisoner Radicalization Task Force*
CO-CHAIRMEN
Frank Cilluffo
Gregory Saathoff
Director, HSPI
Executive Director, CIAG
TASK FORCE MEMBERS
Abdullah Ansary
Independent Scholar
Thurgood Marshall, Jr.
Partner
Bingham McCutchen
Scott Atran
Professor of Psychology and Public Policy
University of Michigan
Matthew Bettenhausen
Andrew McCarthy
Consultant
The Investigative Project
Ed Meese
Director of the California Governor's Office
of Homeland Security
The Heritage Foundation
John Cohen
Paul Rogers
U.S. Government
Richard Ensminger
President
American Correctional Chaplains Association
U.S. Government
Suzanne E. Spaulding
Steve Etter
Principal
Bingham Consulting Group
Former Unit Chief
Federal Bureau of Investigation
John P. Sullivan
Josh Filler
Los Angeles Shers Department
Lieutenant
President
Filler Security Strategies, Inc.
Steve Herrick
Director of External Relations
American Academy of Religion
Janet Warren
Associate Director
Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public
Policy at the University of Virginia
* The affiliations of the individual task force members are provided for identification
purposes only and do not represent endorsements by those organizations or agencies.
CO-AUTHORS
Frank Cilluffo
Director, HSPI
Gregory Saathoff
Executive Director, CIAG
Jan Lane
Deputy Director, HSPI
Jeffrey Raynor
Forensic Psychiatric Fellow
Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at
the University of Virginia
Sharon Cardash
Associate Director, HSPI
Josh Magarik
Policy Analyst, HSPI
Andrew Whitehead
Policy Analyst, HSPI
Arnold Bogis
Policy Analyst, HSPI
Gina Lohr
Assistant Director, HSPI
About The Homel and Security Policy Institute
The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) is a unique,
nonpartisan "think and do tank" that builds bridges between theory and practice to advance
homeland security through a multi and interdisciplinary approach. By convening policymakers and
practitioners at all levels of government and the private sector, HSPI creates innovative
strategies and solutions to current and future threats to the nation.
About The Critical incident Analysis Group
Critical incidents have the potential for creating social trauma and undermining social trust
in government - ultimately impacting community life and even the practice of democracy.
The Critical Incident Analysis Group works to understand the impacts of critical incidents
on government and the societies they serve and to counteract these effects through the study
of past incidents.
For further information, please contact:
Homeland Security Policy Institute
The George Washington University
2300 I Street NW, Suite 721
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: 202-994-2437
[email protected]
http://homelandsecurity.gwu.edu
The Critical Incident Analysis Group (CIAG)
University of Virginia School of Medicine
PO Box 800657
Charlottesville, Virginia 22908-0657
(434) 243-9458 or (434) 243-9467
[email protected]
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/ciag
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
Executive Summary
The potential for radicalization of prison inmates in the United States poses a threat of
unknown magnitude to the national security of the U.S. Prisons have long been places
where extremist ideology and calls to violence could find a willing ear, and conditions are often
conducive to radicalization. With the world's largest prison population (over 2 million –
ninety-three percent of whom are in state and local prisons and jails)' and highest incarceration
rate (701 out of every 100,000) 2, America faces what could be an enormous challenge – every
radicalized prisoner becomes a potential terrorist recruit. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
recently stated that "[t]he threat of homegrown terrorist cells – radicalized online, in prisons and
in other groups of socially isolated souls – may be as dangerous as groups like al Qaeda, if not
more so. They certainly present new challenges to detection."' The London transit bombings
of 2005 and the Toronto terrorist plot of 2006, to name just two incidents, illustrate the threat
posed by a state's own radicalized citizens. By acting upon international lessons learned, the U.S.
may operate from a proactive position.
Under the leadership of The George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy
Institute (HSPI) and The University of Virginia's Critical Incident Analysis Group (CIAG), a
task force of diverse subject matter experts was convened to analyze what is currently known
about radicalization and recruitment in U.S. prison systems at the federal, state and local levels.
The goal of this diverse, multidisciplinary group was to give unbiased and well-informed
recommendations for further action. The task force performed an extensive literature review
and received briefings from professionals with expertise in this area. Federal, state and
local officials provided background information on radicalization and ongoing efforts to
decrease the threat of terrorist activity in prisons. The task force sought and received
perspectives from religious service providers in prisons and jails, behavioral and social scientists,
and members of the national security and intelligence communities. Researchers of
radicalization in foreign prisons provided first hand accounts of radicalization and terrorist
activities overseas.4 Due to the sensitive nature of many of these briefings and the desire of
some briefers to remain anonymous, this report makes reference to information for which no
source is cited. All information provided, where no source is provided, originates from task
force briefings with subject matter experts and officials with personal experience in dealing with
prisoner radicalization.
This report focuses on the process of radicalization in prison. Radicalization "refers to the
process by which inmates...adopt extreme views, including beliefs that violent measures need
to be taken for political or religious purposes."' By "extreme views," this report includes beliefs
that are anti-social, politically rebellious, and anti-authoritarian. This report focuses,
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison Statistics, 15 August
2006, <http://www.ojp.usdoi.gov/bjs/correct.htm> (13 September 2006).
Roy Walmsley, World Prison Population (5" Ed) (Home Office, Publication 234, 2003).
'Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, "Stopping Terrorists Before They Strike: The Justice Department's
Power of Prevention," Testimony before the World Affair Council of Pittsburgh, delivered on April 16, 2006.
See Appendix A.
A Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Selection of Muslim Religious Services Providers, Department of
Justice, Office of The Inspector General April 2004, p. 6.
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
ii
in particular, on religious radicalization in conjunction with the practice of Islam. Radical beliefs
have been used to subvert the ideals of every major religion in the world. Just as young people
may become radicalized by "cut-and-paste" versions of the Qur'an via the Internet', new
inmates may gain the same distorted understanding of the faith from gang leaders or other
influential inmates. The task force recognizes the potentially positive impact of religion on
inmates, and it should be noted that inmates have a constitutional right to practice their
religion,' a right reinforced by further legislation.' Prison facilities bear the burden of proof if
they wish to deny an inmate's request for any service or activity related to religion. Plainly,
inmate conversion to Islam, or any other religion, is not synonymous with radicalization.
Prison gangs may adopt a form of Islam, unique to prison, that incorporates values of gang
loyalty and violence. Several Imams interviewed in the course of producing this report
characterized this phenomenon as "Jailhouse Islam" — a significant threat to security in
prisons.
In addition to radical Muslim influence, U.S. prisons have borne the imprint of right-wing
extremist groups and cults known to participate in criminal activity. These groups share certain
characteristics, interests, and goals with each other, and insights about terrorism can be gained
from an examination of operations and recruitment. Some radical right-wing groups have
found common ideological cause with Muslim extremists, exemplified by their shared hostility
towards Israel.
A number of terrorist groups have used narcotics trafficking and other illegal activities to
9
support their operations. On occasion, terrorists and criminal gangs have cooperated to
achieve their own ends, as was the case in 2004 when terrorists, supported by traditional
criminals, attacked the Madrid rail system. Radical Muslim gangs are growing more
sophisticated as they adapt the practices of existing gangs.
There have been a number of publicized connections between former prisoners and
terrorism:
• Jeff Fort, a gang leader in Chicago, Illinois, converted to Islam while incarcerated in
1965. Fort went on to found a group called El Rukn, which made a name for itself in
1985 when it brokered a deal with the Libyan government to carry out attacks on U.S.
police stations, government facilities, military bases, and passenger airplanes in
exchange for $2.5 million and asylum in Tripoli.'
Zeyno Baran, Director, International Security and Energy Programs. The Nixon Center "Combating alQaeda and the Militant Islamic Threat," Testimony before the Committee on Armed Services. United
States Constitution, First Amendment
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000
Steven C. McCraw, Assistant Director, Office for Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, "NarcoTerrorism: International Drug Trafficking and Terrorism —A Dangerous Mix," Testimony before the
Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, delivered on May 20, 2003.
Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism: Terrorism Knowledge Base, Group Profile: El Rukn.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
iii

James Ellison, the founder of the extremist Christian group Covenant, Sword and
Arm of the Lord (CSA), met Robert G. Millar while incarcerated." Millar, a leader
in the radical "Christian Identity" movement, became Ellison's spiritual advisor in
prison. After Ellison was released, he recruited for CSA and established a compound
with his followers. When the compound was eventually raided, authorities found
homemade landmines and U.S. Army anti-tank rockets. In addition, they found a
large supply of cyanide that the CSA was apparently planning to use to poison a city's
water supply.

Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the emir of Egypt's Gama'at al Islamia (the Islamic Group),
is the radical cleric who plotted to bomb New York City landmarks in 1993. Upon
being sentenced to a life term, he issued a decree from federal prison, declaring
of Americans that "Muslims everywhere [should] dismember their nation, tear them
apart, ruin their economy, provoke their corporations, destroy their embassies, attack
their interests, sink their ships, ...shoot down their planes, [and] kill them on land, at
sea, and in the air. Kill them wherever you find them." Osama bin Laden later claimed
that this fatwa provided religious authority for the 9/11 attacks. Abdel Rahman has
continued trying to run his organization while incarcerated - and three defendants were
convicted of terrorism charges in 2005 for helping him do so.

Richard Reid is believed to have converted to Islam and been radicalized by an Imam
while incarcerated in Great Britain. He was later apprehended while attempting to
detonate a bomb on a U.S. commercial flight in December 2001.

A recently foiled plot to attack numerous government and Jewish targets in California
was devised inside New Folsom State Prison. The perpetrators were members of an
inmate-founded group called Jami'iy yat 1_11-Islam Is Saheeh (Assembly of Authentic
Islam). The leader of this group, Kevin Lamar James, advocated jihad against the U.S.
government and supporters of Israel. Two men implicated in the plot were recruited
from a local mosque by a disciple of James who had been released from the prison.
There exists a number of other examples, but due to the sensitive nature of ongoing
investigations, they cannot be discussed in detail.
Radicalization is occurring in prisons throughout the world. There has been growing
concern about the presence of radical Islam in European prisons. French officials report that
radical Islamic views are being preached in a majority of French prisons.'2 The ethnic and
socioeconomic background of the prisoners, as well as the political environment, presents
unique challenges in each country. Despite these differences, much can be learned from
international experiences, especially those of Western Europe, due to Europe's large Muslim
" Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism: Terrorism Knowledge Base, Group Profile: Covenant,
Sword and Arm of the Lord (CSA).
/2 Pascale Combelles Siegel, "Radical Islam and the French Muslim Prison Population, "Terrorism Monitor,
Volume 4, Issue 15 (July 27, 2006).
iv
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
populations and significant numbers of incarcerated Muslims. While the U.S. must be concerned
about the ability of radicalized inmates released in Europe to enter this country, or participate in
transatlantic terror networks, we must also be vigilant with regard to radicalization in our own
prisons. A greater understanding of the susceptibility of particular inmates to radicalization and
the process by which they become radicalized can act as a force multiplier for those agencies
currently combating terrorism.
Key Findings

Radicalization is neither unique to Islam nor a recent phenomenon, and remains the
exception among prisoners rather than the rule. Right-wing extremist groups are also
present in prisons and have an extensive history of terrorist attacks.

"Jailhouse Islam", based upon cut-and-paste versions of the Qur'an, incorporates
violent prison culture into religious practice.

The inadequate number of Muslim religious services providers increases the risk of
radicalization. Further, upon release from prison, the inability to track inmates coupled
with lack of social support to reintegrate them into the community gives rise to a
vulnerable moment in which they may be recruited by radical groups, posing as social
support organizations that are more interested in their own extremist agendas than in
the welfare of released prisoners.

Information collection and sharing between and among federal, state and local prison
systems is integral to tracking radical behavior of prisoners and religious services
providers. Significant strides have been made at the federal level, but change at the state
and local level, where the overwhelming majority of inmates are incarcerated, is much
more difficult to assess.

Resource limitations — both in terms of manpower and financing — hinder efforts to
combat prisoner radicalization. Officials in California report that every investigation
into radical groups in their prisons uncovers new leads, but that they simply do not
have enough investigators to follow every case of radicalization.

Radicalization in prisons is a global problem and bears upon the national security of
the U.S. In Europe, Latin America and elsewhere the threat has progressed farther than
it has in the U.S., giving officials the opportunity to learn from foreign prison
radicalization cases so as to confront the problem here in its early stages. Information
sharing between and among the U.S. and other countries is crucial.

At present there is insufficient information about prisoner radicalization to qualify
the threat. There is a significant lack of social science research on this issue. No
comprehensive records currently exist, for example, on the religious affiliations of
inmates when they enter prison. This can be improved by policies that promote good
research while continuing to secure the rights of inmates who are involved in these
studies.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
v

Prison officials are understandably stretched thin by the need to maintain order in
overcrowded and under-funded facilities. Nevertheless, because information is an
essential precursor to action, investigation of radicalization in prisons must become a
homeland security and counterterrorism priority.

Religious radicalization within prisons is a complex problem. No one profession alone is
equipped to analyze and recommend change. A multi-disciplinary approach that
includes perspectives of religion, criminal justice, intelligence, law, and
behavioral sciences is necessary for proactive analysis of the phenomenon.

Knowledge must be translated into action. Awareness, education and training
programs must be developed for personnel working in prison, probation and parole
settings.

The Intelligence Reform Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 calls for the
establishment of the Information Sharing Environment (ISE) to support our nation's
counter-terrorism efforts. It is critical that information regarding the radicalization of
prisoners in state, local, and federal correctional facilities be included as part of the body
of information shared through the ISE.
Key Recommendation

Congress should establish a Commission to investigate this issue in depth. An objective
risk assessment is urgently needed in order to better understand the nature of the
threat, and to formulate and calibrate proactive prevention and response efforts
accordingly. Enhanced information would enable officials to address this issue now,
rather than forcing them to manage a crisis later.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
1
Background Information
Prisons have long been places where extremist ideology and calls to violence could find willing
recruits. Recently, the spiritual philosopher of al Qaeda, Sayyid Qutb, wrote the radical Islamist
manifesto Ma'alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones along the Road) while in an Egyptian prison. Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi was an unaccomplished Jordanian revolutionary until his imprisonment,
where he recruited followers and controlled prison life in a manner similar to that of a
powerful gang leader. Speaking of their time together in prison, a follower of Zarqawi said that
"in each prison it was possible for us to have letters sent out and books brought in...The
government imprisons us, and God gives us everything we need...prison makes our fight
stronger."'
Since September 11, 2001, several individuals who were radicalized while incarcerated have been
involved in terrorist operations. This has increased awareness and concern about the spread of
radical religious beliefs and their potential impact on terrorist recruiting in the U.S. prison
system. Prior to recent efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal
Bureau of Prisons (FBOP), the dissemination of religious materials and teachings in federal
prisons was not monitored in a consistent or systematic fashion. The process of radicalization
amongst incarcerated Muslims remains poorly understood and the limited amount of extant
research hinders the development of effective intervention techniques.
Prison provides an ideal environment for radicalization of young men and women. Research
on the characteristics of terrorist recruits abroad has identified youth, unemployment, alienation,
a need for a sense of self-importance and a need to belong to a group as common factors, all of
which are present among U.S. prison populations." Although they may have had some
exposure to mainstream Christianity, many inmates have not had prior experience with Islam
before they are incarcerated. Lacking an understanding of mainstream interpretations of Islam,
these inmates are vulnerable to extremist versions of the religion. The threat of terrorist
recruiting in U.S. prisons was highlighted in October 2003 during a hearing before the U.S.
Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, which identified two
major areas of concern in the U.S. federal prison system:5 First, a variety of socioeconomic
and psychological factors make inmates vulnerable to radical ideology. Second, groups
known to support terrorist causes have distributed radical literature to the prison
population. Although the extent of the problem was not determined, witnesses stated that
serious problems with the screening of religious services providers have created an opportunity
for radicalization.
There have been a number of publicized connections between former prisoners and
terrorism:
Brisard. Zarqawi: The New Face of Al-Qaeda (Other Press, New York: 2005; p. 44). "
R.A. Hudson„ "The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes and
Terrorist and Why?," Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1999, p. 24.
I5 John Pistole, Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Terrorist
Recruitment and Infiltration in the United States: Prisons and Military as an Operational Base," Testimony
before the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, delivered on October 14, 2003.
I' Jean-Charles
2
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG

Jeff Fort, a gang leader in Chicago, Illinois, converted to Islam while incarcerated in
1965. Fort went on to found a group called El Rukn, which made a name for itself in
1985 when it brokered a deal with the Libyan government to carry out attacks on U.S.
police stations, government facilities, military bases, and passenger airplanes in
exchange for $2.5 million and asylum in Tripoli.'6

James Ellison, the founder of the extremist Christian group Covenant, Sword and
Arm of the Lord (CSA), met Robert G. Millar while incarcerated: 7 Millar, a leader
in the radical "Christian Identity" movement, became Ellison's spiritual advisor in
prison. After Ellison was released, he recruited for CSA and established a compound
with his followers. When the compound was eventually raided, authorities found
homemade landmines and U.S. Army anti-tank rockets. In addition, they found a
large supply of cyanide that the CSA was apparently planning to use to poison a city's
water supply.

Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the emir of Egypt's Gama'at al Islamia (the Islamic Group),
is the radical cleric who plotted to bomb New York City landmarks in 1993. Upon
being sentenced to a life term, he issued a decree from federal prison, declaring
of Americans that "Muslims everywhere [should] dismember their nation, tear
them apart, ruin their economy, provoke their corporations, destroy their
embassies, attack their interests, sink their ships, .. . shoot down their planes,
[and] kill them on land, at sea, and in the air. Kill them wherever you find them."
Osama bin Laden later claimed that this fatwa provided religious authority for
the 9/11 attacks. Abdel Rahman has continued trying to run his organization
while incarcerated - and three defendants were convicted of terrorism charges in
2005 for helping him do
SO.

Richard Reid is believed to have converted to Islam and been radicalized by an imam
while incarcerated in Great Britain:8 He was later apprehended while attempting to
detonate a bomb on a U.S. commercial flight in December of 2001.

A recently foiled plot to attack numerous government and Jewish targets in California
was devised inside New Folsom State Prison. The perpetrators were members of an
inmate-founded group called Jami'iy yat UI-Islam Is Saheeh (Assembly of Authentic
Islam)." The leader of this group, Kevin Lamar James, advocated jihad against the U.S.
government and supporters of Israel. Two men implicated in the plot were recruited
from a local mosque by a disciple of James who had been released from the prison.
16 Memorial
Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism: Terrorism Knowledge Base, Group Profile: El Rukn. '7
Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism: Terrorism Knowledge Base, Group Profile: Covenant,
Sword and Army of the Lord (CSA).
" A Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Selection of Muslim Religious Services Providers, Department of
Justice, Office of The Inspector General April 2004, p. 6.
See Appendix A.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
3
For this reason, prisoner radicalization and its implications warrant study. While some literature
on the characteristics of terrorist recruits exists, there is little thorough work in the U.S.
context. Individual or environmental factors involved in the distinct processes from religious
conversion to radicalization to recruitment by a terrorist organization are, ultimately,
not completely understood.'
Defining Terms"
For consistency, the task force adopted the following definitions of radicalization and
recruitment. The first two are adapted from a report by the Department of Justice's Office of
the Inspector General (OIG), released in April 2004 following Senate hearings on the
confluence between terrorism and crime.' Other definitions are terms used by FBI
personnel or were developed by the members of the task force, deriving from their collective
and diverse subject matter expertise.'
Radicalization - "refers to the process by which inmates... adopt extreme views, including
beliefs that violent measures need to be taken for political or religious purposes." By
"extreme views," this report specifies beliefs that are anti-social, politically rebellious and
anti-authoritarian.
Recruitment - "is used to mean the solicitation of individuals to commit terrorist acts or engage
in behavior for a terrorism purpose."' Non-radicalized inmates may be persuaded to participate
in actions that directly benefit the terrorist network. Therefore, a recruited individual would
include anyone in the prison environment who provides support to terrorists. Many members
of a terrorist network may not be fully aware of the value that their actions bring to the
network, as in the case of a prisoner who is coerced through blackmail to smuggle cell phone
parts into a prison."
Individual radicalization - results from exposure to a radical religious services provider or
charismatic inmate espousing radical ideas. This type of individual may decide to pursue
violence on his own, becoming a "lone-wolf' terrorist. He would not necessarily have the
support of a network, but may seek out a network in the future, and may be at risk for
recruitment at some later date.
Organized radicalization - a process supported by external groups who seek to influence
vulnerable inmates. These groups coordinate the entry of radical religious services providers
into prisons and jails. They provide inmates with reading materials that include nonS. Gerwehr and S. Daly, Al-Qaida: Terrorist Selection and Recruitment, (McGraw-Hill Homeland Security
Handbook, 2006), Chapter 5, p. 73-89.
'Definitions of radicalization, particularly as applied to prison settings, inevitably raise questions regarding
what constitutes extreme and what is constitutionally permissible for government to limit. The task force
encourages further review and possible revision of this definition by the commission that the task force is
recommending
be established (see the Findings and Recommendations sections of this report).
22
Department of Justice, OIG Review, 2004.
See Appendix A.
Ibid., p.6.
Ibid., p.6..
4
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
traditional or extremist interpretations of the Qur'an. Once released, inmates are also
directed to supportive groups that espouse violence, such as radical mosques. The social
services offered by radical groups act as a vehicle for "top-down recruiting," also known as
"scouting". This involves radical groups identifying released inmates with valuable skills who
can be recruited to carry out specific actions in support of the group's agenda. This process
occurs over the long term and direct recruiting may result long after the inmate has become
radicalized.
Gang radicalization - makes use of pre-existing prison gangs or networks to attract inmates. A
principal reason for joining an existing gang is the belief that membership in such a group
confers physical protection and psychological support. Gangs also provide a sense of belonging
to disillusioned youths. Once these groups become radicalized, their money, communications
networks and intimidation factor can be used to recruit others and support terrorist networks.
Most prisoners who join Islamic gangs for protection adopt Islam temporarily out of
necessity, a phenomenon called "Prislam" by officials of the New York Police Department.'
In contrast, a small proportion of converted prisoners later become engaged in terrorist
activity.
Para-radicalization - takes place when non-radicalized individuals, including inmates,
correctional officers or other prison staff aid or abet radicalized networks. Wittingly or not,
they are an important part of terrorist network operations in the prison setting. Using bribery
and intimidation, radical inmates can obtain, for example, smuggled
communications devices, pass messages and cause the strategic transfer of particular inmates.
The Problem
OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS OF RADICALIZATION
Inmates in general are particularly vulnerable to radical religious ideology due to their antisocial
attitudes and the need to identify with other inmates sharing the same background, beliefs or
ethnicity. When there has been little exposure to organized religion in the community, the
inmate's understanding of the religion is dependent upon the religious leadership and materials
at their facilities. It is during this period that radical rhetoric may exploit the inmate's
vulnerabilities and lack of grounded religious knowledge by providing validation to the inmate's
disillusionment with society and creating an outlet for their violent impulses. Possible
psychological factors increasing vulnerability include a high level of distress, cultural
disillusionment, lack of intrinsic religious beliefs or values, dysfunctional family system or
dependent personality tendencies.27 These factors are prevalent among prison populations.
From an ideological standpoint, radical religious groups allow the inmates to demonize their
perceived enemies and view themselves as righteous. Prisons are inherently violent
environments and therefore fertile ground for radicalization. Inmates are
26
See Appendix A.
2' S.
Genvehr and S. Daly, Al-Qaida: Terrorist Selection and Recruitment, p. 84.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
5
drawn to radical groups out of the need for protection or to gain status amongst other
prisoners.
Studies have suggested that terrorist recruitment methods are not always expected to yield a high
number of recruits.' Radical messages may be delivered to many prisoners with the
understanding that most will resist radicalization. As demonstrated in the New Folsom plot, a
single radicalized inmate can be a significant threat. Even if the radical message resonates with
only a few inmates, they could then be tar geted for more intense one-on-one
instruction.
It should be noted that there is a difference between a radicalized prisoner, who holds radical
religious or political beliefs, and a prisoner who has been recruited by a terrorist group and who
has chosen to commit violence. A cycle or sequence from radicalization to violence exists,
beginning with the conditions of the prison setting and first exposure to radical ideas, and
ending with the decision to become a terrorist. Only a few who become radicalized go on to
actively pursue terrorism. An important resource for combating terrorism would be to determine
which factor or factors existing in prison influence some radicalized prisoners to make the
specific leap from radical beliefs to violence in the name of those beliefs.
RADICALIZATION IN U.S. PRISONS
I. Religious Services
The recruitment of Muslim chaplains has been limited by the lack of recognized national
religious organizations to administer the vetting process. Compounding the problem, has been
the controversy over imams espousing violent views, as has been seen in several New York
cases. The lack of well-trained Muslim chaplains has led to a reliance on religious
contractors and volunteers, especially in state and local facilities. A 2004 survey of 193
wardens of state correctional facilities showed that only half of religious services were
physically supervised and just over half used any sort of audio or video monitoring
capabilities.' Half the institutions allowed inmates themselves to act as spiritual leaders.
Prison facilities bear the burden of proof if they wish to deny an inmate's request for any
service or activity related to religion.
Currently, chaplains "must have a Master of Divinity degree from an accredited residential
seminary or theology school."" However, that alone does not confirm that they have sufficient
religious education to qualify them to fulfill Muslim religious needs. The same point applies to a
contracted Muslim religious services provider or volunteer. Given the relatively small number of
chaplains, contracted Muslim religious service providers cannot be routinely supervised by
chaplains. Lack of education is a significant problem; contracted religious services providers
and volunteers are not required to have formal religious education. Prisoners may find it
difficult to fulfill their basic religious obligations because of
Ibid.
George W. Knox, "The Problem of Gangs and Security Threat Groups in American Prisons Today: Recent
Research, Findings From the 2004 Prison Gang Survey," (National Gang Crime Research Center, 2005)
" A Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Selection of Muslim Religious Services Providers, Department of
Justice, Office of The Inspector General April 2004, p. 17.
28
6
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
the limitations of the services offered. Even when they are available, some qualified Muslim
religious leaders have been intimidated by radical inmates who consequently assume the role of
religious services provider for themselves. In the absence of qualified Muslim religious services
providers, inmates can become attracted to radical views and the politico-religious messages
coming from other inmates who assume informal positions of religious leadership.
Due to the lack of proper religious authorities and academically credentialed experts available
to review all materials entering the prison system, no consistently applied standard or procedure
exists to determine what reading material is appropriate. In the absence of monitoring by
authoritative Islamic chaplains, materials that advocate violence have infiltrated the
prison system undetected. The lack of individuals with a thorough knowledge of Islam, the
Qur'an and other religious materials entering prisons offers an opportunity for recruiters outside
of prisons to paint a violent picture of Islam. Radical literature and extremist translations and
interpretations of the Qur'an have been distributed to prisoners by groups suspected or known
to support terrorism.' The Noble Qur'an, a Wahabbi/Salafist version written in English, is
widely available in prisons. A recent review in the Middle East Quarterly characterized this
version as reading "...like a supremacist Muslim, anti-Semite, anti-Christian polemic than a
rendition of the Islamic scripture."' Of particular concern is its appendix, entitled "The Call
to Jihad (Holy Fighting in Allah's Cause)." Saeed Ismaeel's The Differences Between the
Sheekh and Muslims Who Follow the Sunnah, written in plain English, is another such example
of radical material.
Radical Muslim prison groups use Arabic language and script as codes – a practice adopted
from existing prison gangs and the use of ancient scripts as code by right-wing extremist groups
– to communicate secretly and to smuggle radical materials undetected." Some prisoners have
indirect access to the Internet, which opens up another avenue for prisoners to access radical
materials. These materials end up in the hands of inmates acting as prayer service leaders, who
then use the materials to recruit inmates to follow the radical views expressed.
Extremist interpretations of the Qur'an use footnotes and supplements to lead the reader to a
radical interpretation of the scripture. For example, in April 1993 a riot, involving approximately
450 prisoners took place in a maximum security facility in Lucasville, Ohio. Many prisoners
feared that correction officials would force them to have tuberculosis vaccinations, which
Muslim inmates perceived would violate their faith; some inmates also desired to settle old
disputes with other prisoners. Following the riot, in which ten died and more than forty million
dollars worth of damage was caused, the investigating authority found radical materials (books
and unauthorized audio materials) in Muslim inmates' cells. Prison authorities later banned all of
these materials.'
3' See
Appendix A.
Khaleel Mohammed, "Assesing English Translations of the Qur'an", Middle East Quarterly, Volume 12,
Number 2 (Spring 2005).
Criminal Investigative Division, "Gangs Use Ciphers and Secret Codes to Communicate," Federal Bureau of
Investigation Intelligence Bulletin (Unclassified), 20 July 2006.
See Lucasville Prison Riot, Ohio Historical Society, 2005, See also, "End to Prison Riot Possible, Officials
Say," Tulsa World, April 18, 1993, Page A8; See also, "Inmates End Standoff: 5 Guards Freed," Tulsa World,
April 22, 1993, Page Al.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
7
II. Support after Release
Although just over two million inmates are incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons, a substantially
greater number have served time and have returned to society. According to a recent report
released by the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, "13.5 million people
spend time in jail or prison, and 95 percent of them eventually return to our communities."'
Both incarcerated and released individuals are vulnerable to radicalization and recruitment,
the latter because many inmates leave prison with very little financial, emotional, or family
support. To the extent that radical groups may draw upon funding from well-financed
extremist backers, they can offer significantly more social and financial support to released
prisoners than other legitimate community support programs. Much community support is
faith-based, and in many cases can assist in successful reintegration with society. However,
when inadequate formal support is provided for inmate transition, radical religious groups may
fill the void by offering both financial and emotional support. By providing for prisoners in
their time of greatest need, these organizations can build upon the loyalty developed during the
individual's time in prison. If connections are made with a radicalized community group,
the recently released inmate may remain at risk for recruitment or continued
involvement in terrorist networks. Released inmates have significant potential value for
terrorist networks that have recruited them.
We currently lack the necessary data to determine both the extent and patterns of radical
religious recruitment for incarcerated prisoners and released inmates. Even if a religious
provider is removed from one facility, that provider can simply apply to enter a prison in
another state. No comprehensive database exists to track religious services providers who are
known to expose inmates to radical religious rhetoric.
III. Other Radical Religious Groups Relevant to U.S. Prisons
The growth of Islam in prisons, the relative deficit of vetted religious services providers, and
world events have all focused attention on radical Islam. However, it is worth noting that
right-wing Christian extremist groups not only have a history of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil,
but a longstanding relationship with prisoners. There are many groups aligning themselves with
"Christian Identity" ideology. These groups include Posse Comitatus, The Order, Aryan
Nations, and many of the militia movements across the country. Aryan Nations has maintained
an outreach program with inmates since the 1970's. The racial beliefs of these groups make
them appealing to white inmates who feel they must associate with inmates of the same race.
As with Islamic groups, this may be related to the need for protection. Some of these groups
have found common cause with extremist Muslim groups, who share their hostility towards the
U.S. government and Israel. Most recently, a number of white supremacist groups vocalized
their support for Hezbollah in its conflict with Israel.36
The Phineas Priesthood, a terrorist organization adhering to "Christian Identity" ideology, is
significant in that it espouses the concept of a "leaderless resistance." By requiring that its
35 The
Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, "Confronting Confinement," June 2006, p.1. 3'
Counterterrorism Division, "White Supremacist Response to the Conflict in Lebanon," Federal Bureau of
Investigation Intelligence Bulletin (Unclassified), 7 August 2006.
8
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
members act independently and in extreme secrecy, its activities are very difficult to detect.
Other types of terrorist groups may adopt this strategy as their networks become less
centralized.
IV. Organized Prison Gangs
International terrorist organizations share a funding source with gangs based in U.S. prisons —
criminal enterprise. During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2003, Steven C.
McCraw, Assistant Director of the FBI, stated, "Terrorism and crime are inextricably linked.
International and Domestic Terrorism Organizations and their supporters engage in a
myriad of crime to fund and facilitate terrorist activities." These criminal enterprises, he
reported, "include extortion, kidnapping, robbery, corruption, alien smuggling, document fraud,
arms trafficking, cyber crime, white collar crime, smuggling of contraband, money laundering
and certainly drug trafficking."' The National Drug Threat Assessment in 2006 stated that "it is
possible that some gangs may associate with foreign terrorists for the purpose of conducting
drug trafficking and various criminal activities. Moreover, the potential for such relationships
exists primarily among U.S. prison gangs, whose members seem to be particularly susceptible to
terrorist and other extremist recruitment.""
V Challenges at the State and Local Levels
The U.S. corrections system consists of a complex network of prisons and jails at the federal,
state and local levels. Out of the over two million inmates in the U.S. prison system,
ninety-three percent are in state and local prisons and jails.' The threat of prisoner radicalization
is therefore even more paramount for state and local officials.
In California state prisons, for example, there exists no standard policy for vetting Muslim
religious services providers. Instead, policy is set by the warden of each prison — leading to
thirty-three different policies for each of California's thirty-three adult facilities. A lack of a
single state-wide policy hinders attempts at identifying and monitoring radical religious services
providers. Most providers are endorsed by local organizations which have different
requirements for religious education and provide different levels of scrutiny to weed out
potential radicals.
California employs twenty Muslim chaplains for a population of over 300,000 prisoners and
parolees, limiting their ability to oversee religious services. Prisoners must often rely on
fellow inmates or volunteers to meet their religious needs. One California state prison alone
hosts 3,000 volunteers each month, an impossible number for short-staffed prison officials to
Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, Terrorism Knowledge Database, accessed July 13, 2006,
http://www.tkb.org/Home.jsp.
Steven C. McCraw, Assistant Director, Office for Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, "NarcoTerrorism: International Drug Trafficking and Terrorism — A Dangerous Mix," Testimony before the
Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, delivered on May 20, 2003.
" "National Drug Threat Assessment 2006," National Drug Intelligence Center, U.S. Department of Justice,
Product No. 2006-Q0317-001, p. 35.
40
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison Statistics, 15 August
2006, <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/correct.htm> (13September 2006).
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
9
monitor effectively.
State prison officials lack the manpower and financial resources to thoroughly investigate
radicalization occurring within their facilities. Successful disruption of radicalization is currently
more a matter of luck than of ability or intent. The terrorist plot formulated at New Folsom
State Prison is one such example. The responsible group, Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is Saheeh
(Assembly of Authentic Islam or JIS), was founded by Kevin Lamar James while he was
imprisoned. James recruited his fellow inmates to JIS, while other members recruited outside the
prison after having been paroled. The group planned a number of attacks on targets in the Los
Angeles area, including U.S. military facilities, synagogues and the Israeli consulate.' The plot was
discovered because a member of the group dropped a cell phone during a robbery, fortuitously
alerting authorities to the group and the plot. A lack of resources, mainly personnel shortages,
prevents law enforcement officials from operating more proactively.
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) has indicated that radicalization is a growing
problem within their jurisdiction, with a number of potential leads to be fo llowed.
However, a lack of trained experts and analysts prevents the LASD from investigating many
potential groups and plots, and hinders them from sharing intelligence with other departments
and agencies. With dozens of overcrowded prisons (some are at 200 percent capacity and
growing) and hundreds of thousands of prisoners and parolees to oversee, prison officials
must devote most of their resources to maintaining basic order and security, with little left over
for investigating radicalization. This is compounded by the fact that radical inmates, wishing to
avoid attention, act as model prisoners, leading prison officials to focus on violent prisoners
while overlooking radicalization. The LASD — one of the largest Sheriffs departments in
the country — reports that its manpower shortage is of the magnitude of a thousand
personnel.'
EUROPEAN PRISONS
In the U.S., Muslims make up a relatively small percentage of the prison population. According
to the Chief of the FBOP's Chaplaincy Services Branch, "approximately 9,000 inmates, or about
6 percent of the inmate population, seek Islamic religious services."'" In contrast, Muslims are
significantly overrepresented in European prisons." For example, Muslims make up about 8
percent of the general populations of France, but there are approximately ten times as many
Muslims in French prisons as there are in the general population. Though Islam is the most
prevalent religion in French prisons," there are some 600 Catholic priests attending Christian
inmates compared to 95 imams attending Muslim
United States District Court for the Central District of California, October 2004 Grand Jury, Indictment
against Kevin James.
See Appendix A.
4' Department of Justice, OIG Review, 2004, p. 5.
" N.H.Ammar, et al. "Muslims in Prison: A Case Study from Ohio State Prisons," International Journal of
Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 48, No. 4, (2004), pp. 416-417.
Fahrad Khosrokhavar and Danielle Joly. Muslims in Prison: Challenge and Change in Britain and France.
Palgrave, Oct 2005.
10
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
prisoners. This shortage provides ample opportunities for radical Islamist preachers and
organizers to spread their message among prisoners.
The number of Muslim inmates in Europe since the 1970s has been growing. France and Britain
have the largest and longest established populations of Muslims in Western Europe. Muslim
prisoners serving prison sentences in England and Wales have increased as a proportion of the
prison population from 4.49 percent in 1991 to approximately 8.05 percent today. In
France, the proportion of Muslims in prisons is probably higher than in the prisons of
England and Wales. Estimates of their presence in sections of urban prisons in France go as high
as 80 per cent.46 Whereas the 6 million Muslims in the U.S. are mostly middle class, most of
Western Europe's 12-15 million Muslims occupy a lower socioeconomic status.
European policies on assimilation, in contrast to U.S. policies, have resulted in a division
between Europe's Muslim population and the rest of society. This socioeconomic
marginalization of Europe's Muslims makes them more vulnerable to radical political and
religious messages.
Although immigrant communities and their levels of integration vary across nations, the
experience of other countries is relevant for the U.S. For example, when radicalized inmates are
released in Europe, they may travel to the U.S. or participate in networks with
individuals inside the U.S. Both Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid entered the country using
passports issued by countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program. Moreover, because of
the increasing amount of knowledge that can be shared globally through the Internet, successful
radicalization and recruitment techniques can be adapted to the U.S. prison system with
relative ease. Indirect access to the Internet allows prisoners in the U.S. to communicate with
extremist and terrorist groups outside prison walls, making it easier for terrorist networks to
work across borders.
Radicalization in Europe is not limited to recent immigrants from traditionally Islamic
countries. Researchers in the Netherlands have found that radicalization occurs among
many second and third generation immigrants, as well as a small number of converts of Dutch
descent. These individuals tend to participate in local networks, but these local groups
may periodically coordinate with one another or make connections with transnational
networks.47
Prison officials have struggled to control radicalization. However, in the interest of maintaining
order, prison administrations often facilitate radical groups. Moreover, the blackmailing of
prison staff and even non-Muslim religious personnel has resulted in radical inmate groups
gaining access to cellular phones and even the Internet. Attorneys provided by foreign terrorist
organizations have also arranged for inmates to be moved in and out of particular prisons.
Attorneys have also been used to pass information between radical inmate leaders and to
coordinate with outside networks. As in the U.S., radical religious groups have adopted the
techniques of violent prison gangs to intimidate others and gain control over the facilities in
which they are incarcerated.'s
James A. Beckford, et al., Muslims in Prison Challenge and Change in Britain and France, New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, Mar. 2, 2006, pp. 72 and 276.
A' Violent Jihad in the Netherlands: Current trends in the Islamist terrorist threat, General Intelligence and
Security Service Communications Department, March 2006, pp. 23-24.
" See Appendix A.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
11
Current Response Efforts
Awareness and containment of the European problem is only part of the needed response.
Because successful networks adopt and adapt effective strategies learned elsewhere, the
European experience must be used as an opportunity to learn about prison radicalization so
that it can be disrupted in the U.S. at a much earlier stage.
FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL RESPONSES
Officials at the state level have taken a number of steps to combat prisoner radicalization.
Arizona, California and New York have started actively addressing this challenge. California
in particular has been exemplary in this regard, having identified prisoner radicalization as a high
priority threat and devoted resources to combating it. Despite severe manpower shortages,
officials are making a concerted effort to investigate radical networks within their prisons. All
California state prisons, for example, have an investigative unit dedicated to this task.
California officials are making a deliberate effort to identify key gaps in responses and fill them.
Model terrorism and training awareness courses are being developed for correctional officers,
and pilot programs have been introduced to draw on the expertise developed over time by
institutional gang investigators. Prison officials have been working to counter gang organization
and recruitment among inmates with success. Due to the similarities between gang recruitment
and recruitment by radical groups within prisons, there are lessons that can and should be
drawn from anti-gang efforts to thwart radicalization and potential terrorist recruiting.
Important differences exist between gangs and radical groups, however, so these lessons should
not be applied wholesale. Rather, anti-gang efforts should be studied to determine what among
them can be usefully applied to combating radical groups in prisons.
The California state government has taken steps to coordinate efforts between its own prison
facilities and between other agencies working on this problem. Presently, the California
Department of Corrections has liaison officers posted at each prison who meet monthly to share
information across facilities. Beyond the prison-to-prison network at the local level, the long
term and crucial process of building relationships and trust between and among officials at
different levels of government has been furthered by the establishment of a number of
"fusion centers" to bring together federal, state and local officials to share intelligence and plan
responses. The California state government has created several Joint Regional Intelligence
Centers (JRICs) and Regional Threat Assessment Centers (RTACs), which are composed of
representatives from prison staffs, the LASD, the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI, the
Drug Enforcement Agency and the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the area. Unfortunately, efforts
are often stymied by the nature of bureaucracy. The FBI established four Joint Terrorism Task
Forces (JTTFs) in California to bring together federal, state, and local officials, but the JTTFs
meet infrequently. Likewise, the JRICs and RTACs are designed to study the problem
strategically, not to support operations against radical groups, leading some member agencies to
disregard the groups thus sinking an opportunity for intelligence sharing.
12
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
Even though state and county officials have been forward leaning in their efforts to work
together, significant cultural, policy and resource impediments continue to hamstring their
efforts. Crucially, local information must fully find its way into regional and national intelligence
processes and networks, and strategic analysis must be fused with investigatory efforts for
synergies to emerge. California provides an exce llent case study of the complexities of
working across jurisdictions, and among a number of agencies to get an accurate gauge of the
extent of radicalization, but even the most effective example still suffers from numerous
impediments to success.
In New York State, in late 2004 and early 2005, the New York State Office of Homeland
Security, State Department of Corrections, New York City Department of Corrections, NYPD
and the FBI began the process of establishing a joint prison monitoring system to monitor and
track prison radicalization within State prisons and Riker's Island Jail. All of the agencies had
been working on their own prison monitoring programs before that time, but each independent
of the other. The system is built off of already well established gang intelligence units at both
the State and city level and uses the Upstate New York Regional Intelligence Center
(UNYRIC) and the NYPD intelligence center at the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
(HIDTA) to fuse intelligence collected within the prisons and jails. More recently, the State of
New York has begun the process of integrating county jails, most of which are run by local
sheriffs, into the system. However, at this time, the majority of county jails are still not part of
the prison monitoring system.49
EXCLUDING RADICALS AND EXTREMIST MATERIALS FROM PRISONS
Since 2002, the FBI and FBOP have enhanced collaborative efforts to detect and respond to
any threats to national security originating from prisons. Their experience indicates that
U.S. prisons have been targeted for radicalization and recruitment.' However, because the
vast majority of inmates are incarcerated in state prison systems, individual and organized
radicalization and recruitment at the state level represents the majority of the current radical
activity.
In response to the OIG report on the paucity of Muslim religious services providers, the FBOP
has made changes to many of its policies.' Religious services providers are now questioned
about their beliefs regarding violence and other concepts related to radicalization. They are also
subjected to more rigorous background checks. Muslim chaplains are involved in the
screening process as subject matter experts.
The OIG report detailed issues related to the selection of chaplains and other religious services
providers, such as the inadequate examination of doctrinal beliefs.' Volunteers and
49 See Appendix A. "
See Appendix A.
"Analysis of the Response by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to Recommendations in the OIG's April 2004
Report on the Selection of Muslim Religious Service Providers, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the
Inspector General, July 2004.
52 Department of Justice, OIG Review, April 2004.
Out of the shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
13
religious contractors were required to receive endorsements only from local organizations.
Since 1995, chaplains had been required to obtain endorsement from a national
organization. The FBOP made the change in order to increase accountability and allow the
chaplains to maintain contact with the endorsing agency when they were moved to other states.
To further accountability, the FBOP could maintain more consistent relationships with a
national agency, and more easily detect any deviation from mainstream religious practices. The
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was the only provider of endorsements of Muslim
chaplains until 2003. In response to allegations about ISNA connections to terrorist groups,
the FBOP stopped accepting endorsements for Muslim chaplains." As a result, no new Islamic
chaplains could be hired until the FBI cleared the ISNA of any association with terrorist
groups. The FBOP has maintained ongoing communication with Muslim groups, including the
ISNA.
There is strengthened communication between the FBI and FBOP regarding the vetting
process of religious services providers. They are questioned and investigated regarding any
connection to or funding from foreign governments. The FBOP has begun accepting
endorsements of chaplain candidates from local organizations in lieu of national endorsements.
FBOP chaplains must now meet new requirements for academic training, and experience, and
pass thorough background checks. Chaplains must also demonstrate a willingness and ability to
provide and coordinate religious programs for inmates of all faiths." FBOP staff members have
received training on Islamic beliefs and FBI field offices are required to provide training to
local and state prisons.
The FBOP's mission is to identify organizations and individuals attempting to radicalize
inmates and prevent their entry into prisons. Although the need for positive influences on
inmates, including non-radical religious services is recognized, it is difficult to maintain the
balance between the need to provide religious services and the need to prevent entry of radical
religious services providers. While the OIG found that the FBOP was effectively employing
ten current Muslim chaplains to screen new contractors, this was not felt to be adequate for
supervision of existing inmate and non-inmate providers, because "ample opportunity
exists...to deliver inappropriate and extremist messages." The ten FBOP Muslim chaplains
cannot interview the many thousands of religious contractors who have exposure to inmates.
The FBOP maintains a database of inmates which is available to, but not widely used by, local
and state systems. State and local databases of information on prisoners that do exist are not
universally compatible with the federal system or with other states. Despite use of available
databases and improvements in information sharing, intelligence gaps remain. Information
about who is directing and funding radicalization and recruitment efforts is incomplete. The
decentralized and fluctuating leadership of radical groups contributes to this deficit."
" The investigation of the ISNA is beyond the scope of the task force and the statements made in this report are
not meant to confirm or deny the allegations mentioned above. The ISNA is mentioned specifically because it is
the only national Islamic organizations that has been used to endorse FBOP chaplains.
" Department of Justice Fact Sheet, Department offiistice Anti-Terrorism Efforts Since Sept. 11, 2001, 5
September 2006 <http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/September/06_opa_590.html>.
5s See Appendix A.
14
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
The FBOP has developed a more complete system of monitoring the inventory of religious
reading material and other forms of media available to Federal prison's. This allows for more
consistent review by experienced chaplains. A set of best practice guidelines has been
implemented throughout the FBOP regarding appropriate reading materials. These guidelines
are incorporated into the training available to local and state facilities, though there has been no
authoritative measure of the degree to which these practices are being implemented. The FBOP
has mandated the constant supervision of inmate-led groups, and is requiring that the
provision of Islamic teachins and study-guides must be prepared by Islamic chaplains who are
full-time FBOP staff.'
Findings

Prison gangs and terrorist organizations share a common interest in criminal
enterprises. The potential therefore exists for a nexus between the two. The limited
numbers of individuals required by successful terrorist recruiting methods increases the
possibility of cross fertilization. Research on foreign terrorists describes isolated and
alienated young people lacking a sense of self importance that feeds a need to belong to
a group—a set of conditions found in recruits of U.S.-based prison gangs. Radicalized
prisoners form a pool of potential recruits for terrorist groups.

Radicalization is neither unique to Islam nor a recent phenomenon, and remains the
exception among prisoners rather than the rule. Right-wing extremist groups are
present in prisons and have an extensive history of terrorist attacks.

The inadequate number of Muslim religious services providers increases the risk of
radicalization. At the same time, not all contracted religious leaders have the appropriate
experience, education or background to lead fellow Muslims. Prisoners with little training
in Islam have been able to assert themselves as leaders among the prison population, at
times misrepresenting the faith. "Jailhouse Islam", based upon cut-and-paste versions
of the Qur'an, incorporates violent prison culture into religious practice. Radical
religious service providers in prisons are able to move from prison to prison while
remaining under the radar of prison officials. Currently there are no national
organizations authorized by the FBOP to endorse Muslim chaplain candidates. By
relying on local endorsing organizations, it is inherently more difficult to ensure
that religious leaders providing services within prison systems are adequately trained and
to deny radical ideologues access to prisoners. In the absence of a sound process to
vet materials entering into prisons, the system remains vulnerable.

The inability to track inmates upon release from prison, coupled with limited social
support, gives rise to a vulnerable moment in which former inmates may act upon
radical tendencies. The lack of support groups to help reintegrate released prisoners
into society allows for individuals to carry into the larger community the radical
" Department of:Justice Anti-Terrorism Efforts Since Sept. 11, 2001. Department of Justice Fact Sheet, 5
September 2006 <http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/September/06_opa_590.html>.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
15
messages learned while confined and increases the likelihood of repeat offenses.
There do exist local charities that may accept recently released prisoners of Muslim faith
to help these individuals to become productive members of society by providing
immediate assistance with housing and career counseling. However, these groups
generally rely on private donations, and with their decentralized leadership may be
vulnerable to the influences of radical groups more interested in finding recruits than in
providing social services or in the welfare of prisoners.
 Resource limitations — both in terms of manpower and financing — hinder efforts to
combat prisoner radicalization. Officials in California report that every investigation
into radical groups in their prisons uncovers new leads, but that they simply do not have
enough investigators to follow every case of radicalization and information goes
unshared with officials at other prisons or agencies.
 Lack of systematic intelligence and information sharing among federal, state and
local prisons on inmates who express violent, religion-based behaviors allows for such
prisoners to carry out a message of extremism undetected. Information collection
and sharing among federal, state and local prison systems is integral to tracking
radical behavior of prisoners and religious services providers, and to preventing recruiters
from moving freely between prisons. Significant strides have been made at the federal
level, but change at the state and local level is difficult to assess. Further, intelligence
regarding radicalization activities at the federal, state and local levels must be integrated
into the body of information shared through the ISE.
 Radicalization in prisons is a global problem and bears upon the national security of
the U.S. Information sharing between and among the U.S. and other countries is crucial.
Lessons learned abroad afford the U.S. the opportunity to proactively address such
threats domestically.
 At present there is insufficient information about prisoner radicalization to qualify
the threat. There is a significant lack of social science research on this issue. No records
currently exist, for example, on the religious affiliations of inmates when they enter
prison. This can be improved by policies that promote good research while continuing to
secure the rights of inmates who are involved in these studies. The motivations for and
incentives offered by terrorist groups must be better understood, and the sequence of
radicalization must be better understood to identify the steps that separate a
radicalized inmate from a terrorist recruit — that is, the factor or factors that exist in
prison that cause a few radicalized prisoners to pursue violence.
 Prison officials are understandably stretched thin by the need to maintain order in
overcrowded and under-funded facilities. Nevertheless, because information is an
essential precursor to action, investigation of radicalization in prisons must become a
priority.
16
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
Recommendations
Prisoner radicalization is a potentially significant threat to U.S. national security. Conditions
in prison are conducive to radicalization, as demonstrated by Europe's experience and cases
within the U.S. Radicalized prisoners are a potential pool of recruits by terrorist groups.
The U.S., with its large prison population, is at risk of facing the sort of homegrown
terrorism currently plaguing other countries. To deal with this threat before it materializes as a
terrorist attack, Congress should establish a commission to investigate prison radicalization. An
objective risk assessment is urgently needed to investigate this issue in depth, in order to better
understand the nature of the threat, and to calibrate and formulate our prevention and response
efforts accordingly.57
Religious radicalization within prisons is a complex problem and therefore no one profession
alone is equipped to analyze and recommend change. A multi-disciplinary approach that includes
perspectives of religion, criminal justice, law, and behavioral sciences is vital for proactive
analysis of the phenomenon. We would urge that the Commission seek to balance the practice of
religious freedom while preventing the spread of radical ideology in a religious con text.
Among the areas to be addressed by the commission are the following recommended priority
issues:

Objectively assess the risk posed by the influence of radical groups in the prison
system, as well as the current levels of information sharing between and among
agencies at all levels of government involved in managing inmates and monitoring
radical groups.

Identify steps to ensure the legitimacy of Islamic endorsing agencies so as to ensure a
reliable and effective process of providing religious services to Muslim inmates.

Identify steps to effectively reintegrate former inmates into the larger society, thereby
reducing the likelihood that they will be recruited by radical groups posing as social
service providers, or will act upon radical tendencies learned behind bars.

Identify broader areas of dialogue with the Muslim community to better facilitate
cultural understanding.

Identify lessons that can be learned and adapted from present and past efforts to
combat gangs and right-wing extremists in prisons. Existing prison programs
designed to prevent radicalization and recruitment or to disrupt radical groups,
whether at the local, state, federal, or international level, should be evaluated to
determine a set of "best practices" that can be used to develop a comprehensive
strategy to counter radicalization.
It should be noted that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are also conducting their own
strategic assessments regarding the scope of radicalization and recruitment in U.S. prisons from a law
enforcement-centric point of view.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
17
• Knowledge must be translated into action. Awareness, education and training programs
must be developed for personnel who work in prison, probation and parole settings.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
A-1
Appendix A
Prisoner Radicalization Task Force Briefings*

Johari Abdul-Malik: Muslim Chaplain, Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Randy Beardsworth: Assistant Secretary for Strategic Planning , Department of
Homeland Security

Matthew Bettenhausen: Director, Office of Homeland Security, California

Alon Daniel: Counterterrorism Consultant, Transnational Crime and Corruption
Center, American University

Richard Davis: Senior Associate, Center for the Study of the Presidency; Former
Director of Prevention Policy, Homeland Security Advisory Council

Cindy Gatiglio: Intelligence Analyst, Emergency Operations Bureau, Terrorism Early
Warning Group, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Matthew Hamidullah: Warden, Federal Bureau of Prisons in Estill, South Carolina

William Hipsley: Deputy Director, California Office of Homeland Security

Sunni-Ali Islam: Muslim Religious Service Provider, Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Corrections
James McMahon: Director, New York State Office of Homeland Security

Larry Meade: Sergeant, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Todd Puhler: Federal Bureau of Investigations

Larry Richards: Detective, Emergency Operations Bureau, Terrorism Early Warning
Group, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Rick Rimmer: Assistant Secretary, California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation

John Stedman: Lieutenant, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Craig Trout: Federal Bureau of Prisons Detailee, Federal Bureau of Investigations
The task force consulted, interviewed and received briefings from additional subject matter experts who wish to
remain anonymous. All briefings were conducted under "Chatham House" rules.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
Appendix
B-1
B
Additional Resources
I. BOOKS
1.
A Correctional Institution's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices, Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), (2004).
2.
Felecia Dix-Richardson & Billy R. Close eds., Religion, the Community, and the Rehabilitation of
Criminal Offenders, (The Haworth Press, 2003) pp 87 – 107.
3.
Ihsan Bagby et. al, The American Mosque: A National Portrait, Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), (2001).
4.
James A. Beckford, et al., Muslims in Prison Challenge and Change in Britain and France, (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, Mar. 2, 2006) pp 1 – 305.
5.
Law Enforcement Official's Guide to the Muslim Community, Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), (2003).
6.
Saeed Ismaeel, The Difference Between the Shiite and the Majority of Muslim Scholars (3rd ed., Falls
Church, VA: Unites States Office, World Assembly of Muslim Youth, 1995)
II. REPORTS
1.
A Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Selection of Muslim Religious Services Providers, U.S.
Department ofizistice Office of the Inspector General, (Apr. 2004), available at
hup://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0404/final.pdf
2.
Christopher M. Blanchard, The Islamic Traditions of Wahhabism and Salafiyya, CRS Report for Congress,
Order Code RS21695, (Jan. 25, 2006), available at
hup://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21695.pdPfsearch=%22%22The%201slamic%20Traditions91o20o
f%20Wahhabism%20and%20Salaflyrya%22%22
3.
Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons Summary of Findings and Recommendations, (June
2 0 0 6 ) , a v a i l a b l e a t
hup://www.prisoncommission.org/pdfs/prison_commission_summary.pdftsearch=94,229622The%20
daily%20count%20oNio2Oprisoners%20ing/o2Othe%20United%20States%20hasTo2Osurpasseci%202.
2%20 million.%200ver%20the%20course%20ofb/o20a%22%22
4.
Inmate Religious Belief and Practices (Technical Reference), U.S. Department of Justice: Federal Bureau of
Prisons, (Mar. 27, 2002), available at
http://www.nicic.org/pubs/2002/017613.pdf.
Out of the Shadow s: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
B-3
7. Jess Maghan, The Post 9/11 Prison, Crime & Justice International, (Sept./Oct. 2004), available at
littp://www.jmfcc.com/POST911-PRISON-CjiO409- 10%20pgs%201 2-19.01.
3. Overview of Islamist Extremism in Europe, Hearing before the Subcommittee on European Affairs of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington, DC, (Apr. 5, 2006), (Testimony of Daniel Fried,
Assistant Secretary for European Affairs), available at http://www.state.gov/p/eur/r1s/rm/64192.htm.
9.
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, (Oct. 14, 2003),
(Opening Statement of Senator Jon Kyl Chairman), available at
http://wwi,v.globalsecurity.org/securiry/library/congress/2003_h/030910-kyl.htm.
10. Terrorism: Radical Islamic Influence of Chaplainry of The US. Military and Prisons: Hearing Before the
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security of the Committee on the Judiciary United
States Senate One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session, Serial No. J-108-44, (Oct. 14, 2003),
available at
h t t p : / / w w w . m i p t . o r g / p d f / s - h r g 1 0 8 443.pdf#search=%22%22TERRORISM%3A%20RADICAL%201SLAMIC%20INFLUENCE%20
OF%2OCHAPLAINCY%200F%20THETo2OU.SA20MILITARY%20AND%20PRISONS%22% 22
IV. ARTICLES, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND ONLINE SERVICES
1.
Addle M. Banks, Senate Holds Hearing on How Muslim Chaplains Are Chosen, Religion News Service,
(Oct. 15, 2003), available at
http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=2746.
2.
Amy Menefee, Islamic Religious Groups Jockey for Prison Access as Concerns over Inmate Terrorism Grow,
Congressional Quarterly, (June 25, 2003), available at
h Et p://www.defenddemocracy. o rg/cn b/custo m_tags/con te... y.o rg/ i n_the_inedi a/i n_the_med ia_sh ow
.htm?doc_id=179485.
3. Analysis of the Response by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to Recommendations in the OIG's April 2004
Report on the Selection of Muslim Religious Services Providers, Office of the Inspector General, (July
2004), available at
http://vvww.usdoj.gov/oig/specia1/0404/response.h t m.
4.
Arnaud de Borchgrave, Criminals Recruited for 'Islamic Army' in America, NewsMax.com, (Aug. 21,
2002), available at
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/8/20/163711.shtml.
5.
Arthur C. Pace & Daniel DeBlock, Chaplain Ministry in Prison, (Winter-Spring 2000), available at h
ttp://www.usachcs.army.mil/TACarch ive/ACwi nsp r00/priso n. htm.
6.
Aussie Dasher, Imams Vow to Preach Values of Islam, West, The Washington Times, (Apr. 10, 2006),
available at
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1612265/posts
7.
B.A. Robinson, Potential for Radicalization of U.S. Muslim Prison Inmates, Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance, (Aug. 20, 2005), available at
http://www.religioustolerance.org/islpris. htm.
3. Bill Berkowitz, African American Muslims: A Clear and Present Danger?, Z Magazine Online, Vol. 16
No. 6, (June 2003), available at
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jun2003/berkowitzprint0603.html.
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
B-2
5.
John J. Gibbons and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, Confronting Confinement: A Report of the commission on
safety and abuse in America's prisons, Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, (June 2006),
available at http://www.prisoncommission.org/pdfs/Confronting_Confinemen t.pdf.
6. Kristin Archick, et. al., Islamist Extremism in Europe, CRS Report for Congress, Order Code
RS22211, (Jan. 6, 2006), available at
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RS22211.pdf#search=%22%22Islamist%20Extremism94)20in%20E
urope%22%22
7. Program Statement, U.S. Department of Justice: Federal Bureau of Prisons, (Dec. 31, 2004), available
at
http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/trapp/B0P_5360_008.pdf#search=gio22%22Religious%2Oreso
urces%20will%2060/020equitably%20distributed%20for%20the%22%22.
8.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons: Semiannual Report to Congress, Office of the Inspector General, (Apr. 1,
2004 — Sept. 30, 2004), available at
http:/hvww.usdoj.gov/oig/semiannual/0411/bop.htm.
III. CONGRESSIONAL MATERIALS
I. Hearing before Senate Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate, (Feb. 16, 2005),
(Testimony of Robert S. Mueller, III, Director Federal Bureau of Investigation, available at
http://www.ffii.gov/congress/congress05/mueller02I 605.htm.
2.
Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Homeland
Security, "Terrorist Recruitment and Infiltration in the United States: Prisons and Military as an
Operational Base", (Oct.14, 2003), (Testimony of Dr. Michael Waller, Annenberg Professor of
International Communication the Institute of World Politics), available at
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1039743/posts
3.
Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Homeland
Security, "Terrorist Recruitment and Infiltration in the United States: Prisons and Military as an Operational
Base", (Oct.14, 2003), (Testimony of John S. Pistole Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division,
Federal Bureau of Investigation), available at
http://judiciaty.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=960&wit_id=2718.
4.
Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Homeland
Security, "Terrorist Recruitment and Infiltration in the United States: Prisons and Military as an
Operational Base", (Oct.14, 2003), (Paul Rogers, President of the American Correctional Chaplains
Association), available at http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/congress/2003_h/031014rogers.htm
5.
Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Homeland
Security, "Terrorist Recruitment and Infiltration in the United States: Prisons and Military as an
Operational Base", (Oct.14, 2003), (Statement of J. Michael Waller, Annenberg Professor of
International Communication Institute of World Politics), available at
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id-,960&wit_id=2719.
6.
Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Homeland
Security, "Terrorist Recruitment and Infiltration in the United States: Prisons and Military as an
Operational Base", (Oct.14, 2003), (Testimony of Mr. Harley Lappin Director Federal Bureau of
Prisons), available at
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=960&wit_id=2318.
B-4
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
9. C.T. Rossi, Today's Criminal Will Become Tomorrow's Islamic Terrorist, Free Congress Foundation,
(July 1, 2002), available at
http://wv‘w.freecongress.org/commentaries/2002/020625CR.asp.
10. Cal Thomas, Radical recruiting in America's prisons, Townhall.com, (Jun. 20, 2002), available at
http://www.townhall.corn/opinion/columns/calthomas/2002/06/20/163601.html.
11. Charles Colson, Terrorists Behind Bars, First Things, (Nov. 2002), available at
http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0211/opinion/colson.html.
12. Chuck Colson, Al Qaeda and Converts to Islam, Townhall.com, (Apr. 28, 2004), available at
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001759.php.
13. Chuck Colson, Evangelizing for Evil in Our Prisons: Radical Islamists Seek to Turn Criminals into
Terrorists, Wall Street Journal, (June 24, 2002), available at
http://www.centerforsecurirypolicy.org/index.jsp?section=static&page=colson624.
14. Corey Weinstein & Eric Cummins, The Crime of Punishment Pelican Bay Maximum Security Prison
from the Book Criminal Injustice (Elihu Rosenblatt ed.), South End Press, (1996), available at
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/CrimePunish_Pelican.html.
15. Craig S. Smith, Islam in Jail: Europe's Neglect Breeds Angry Radicals, Natasha Tynes, (Dec. 09, 2004),
available at
http://www.natashatynes.corn/nel,vswire/2004/12/islam_in_jail_e.html.
16. Daniel Pipes, Home-Grown Radical Islam Haunts L.A., The Daily News of Los Angeles (Sept. 11,
2005).
17. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Wahhabism in the Big House. The Weekly Standard, (Sept. 26, 2005),
available at
http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?News1D=5376.
18. Don Thompson, Terror Allegations Prompt Debate about Inmate Religious Meetings, Associated Press,
(Aug. 20, 2005), available at
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/08/19/state/n170307D66.DTL&type=printable
19. Edward E. Plowman, Rubber-Stamping Islamic Chaplains?, WiccaNet, (Sep. 17, 2004), available at
http://wiccanet.us/CMS/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=153&mode=thre
ad&order=0&thold=0.
20. Elaine Ganley, Officials Concerned about Muslim Converts, WorldWide Religious News, (Jan.17,
2006), available at
http://wwwwwrn.org/article.php?idd=20126&sec=33&con=2
21. Elizabeth Bryant, Radical Islam Preached in I of 3 Jails, Monsters and Critics.com, (Jan. 13, 2006),
available at lutp://www.monscersandcritics.com/error,php.
22. Eric Lichtblau, Report Warns of Infiltration by Al Qaeda in U.S. Prisons, The New York Times, (May
5, 2004), available at
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.politics.usa/browse_thread/thread/621e4c6058a58974/c95c1c3b
a6cfl 5d0?lnk=raot#c95c1c3ba6cfl 5d0.
23. Esther Hartstein, Prisoners Being Recruited to Radical Islam, The American Daily, (Dec. 2, 2003),
available at
h trp://www.americandaily.com/article/3997.
Out of the Shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
B-5
24. First Annual Muslim Chaplain Conference Detailed Report, Islamic Society of North America, (Aug. 30 –
Sept. 1, 2005), at
http://www.ildc.net/2005-mcc-repord.
25. Four Accused of L.A. Terror Plots, CBS News, (Aug. 31, 2005), available at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/31/terror/main810568.shtml.
26. France: Islam in Jail, The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog, (Dec. 8, 2004), available at
http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2004/12/francelslam_in.html.
27. Frank J. Gaffney Jr., Preachers for Terrorism, Washington Times, (Oct. 14, 2003), available at
http://ww.frontpagemag.com/articles/Printable.asp?ID=10327.
28. George W. Knox, The Problem of Gangs and Security Threat Groups (STG's) in American Prisons Today:
Recent Research Findings From the 2004 Prison Gang Survey, National Gang Crime Research Center,
(2005), available at
http://1,vww.ngcrc.com/corr2006.html.
29. Hadi Yahmid, French Prisons Teeming with Muslims, Islamonline.net, (June 19, 2005), available at
http://,,vww.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-06/19/article04.shtml.
30. Helping Prisoners Turn their Lives Around, AMILA, (visited Sept. 4, 2006), available at
http://www.amila.org/about/intro.php.
31. Ian M. Cuthbertson, Prisons and the Education of Terrorists, World Policy Journal, (Fall 2004),
available at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1879/is_200409/ai_n9730117.
32. Ibrahim B. Syed, Education of Muslims in Kentucky Prisons, Islamic Research Foundation
International, (visited Sept. 4, 2006), available at
http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_l_50/education_of muslims_in_kentucky.htm.
33. Islamic Chaplain Banned from Prison Ministry, for September 11 Remarks, Associated Press, (Feb. 6,
2003), available at
http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgiM=news3203&Category=news&Subcategory=0.
34. Islamic Chaplaincy Program, Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim
Relations, (visited Sept. 4, 2006), available at
http://macdonald.hartsem.eciu/defiuilt.htm.
35. J. Michael Waller, FBI Bowing to Radical Islam?: Official Declines to Speak about Wahhabi-Terror Link at
Senate Hearing, Worldnetdaily, News World Communications Inc., (July 31, 2003), available at
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=19895&Disp=0.
36. Jail Worry over Islam Converts, Australian Associated Press General News, (Nov. 7, 2005), available at
http://forums.muslimvillage.net/lofiversion/index.php/t16726.html.
37. Jeff Johnson, Investigation of 'Terrorist Recruitment' Concerns Muslims, CNSNews.com Congressional
Bureau Chief, (Sept. 29, 2003), available at
h ttp://www.cns news.com/ ViewPri nt.asp?Page=%5CPentagon%5Carchive%5C200309%5CPEN 200
30929a.html.
38. Jenifer Warren, and Greg Krikorian, Prisons Weigh Threat of Radical Islamist Gangs, Los Angeles
Times, (Sept. 4, 2005), available at
http://pewforum.org/ news/display.php?NewsID=5309.
39. Jerry Seper, Prisons Breeding Ground for Terror?, The Washington Times, (May 6, 2004), available at
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040505-111705-4604r.htm.
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
B-6
40. Jesse J. Holland, New protocol is set on Muslim chaplains, Associated Press & Boston.com, (Oct. 15,
2003), available at
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/10/15/
new_protocol_is_set_on_muslim_chaplains/.
41. Keith Johnson & David Crawford, Do Jails Breed Terrorists?: In Europe, Threat Seems to Be
Exacerbated, Not Blunted, in Prison, The Wall Street Journal, (June 20, 2005), available at
http://www.desdeelexilio.com/2005/06/21/.
42. Louis Proyect, European prisoners turn to Islam, The New York Times, (Dec. 8, 2004), available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/international/europe/08prisons.html.
43. Louisa Cleave, Prison Staff on Alert for Terror Links, New Zealand Herald, (Dec. 23, 2005), available at
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/print.cfm?c_id= I ezobjectid- 10361202.
44. Lucasville Prison Riot, Ohio Historical Society, (2005), available at
lutp://,,vww.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1634.
45. M. Amir Ali, Islam in Prisons: The III&E Contribution over a Decade], Islamic Society of North
America, (2005), available at
http://www.isna.net/services/library/papers/america/IslamInPrison.html.
46. Mark Almond, Why Terrorists Love Criminals (And Vice Versa) Many a Jihadi began as a Hood,
Opinion Journal, (June 22, 2002), available at
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110001881.
47. Matt Krasnowski, Is Prison a Terrorism Breeding Ground?, Balita Media Inc., (Aug. 27, 2005),
available at
http://www.balita.com/_2005/082705/communityll.php.
48. Matt Krasnowski, Probe Fans Fears of Prison Terror Plots, Union-Tribune, (Aug. 22, 2005), available at
http://www.signonsandiego.corn/news/nation/terror/20050822-9999-1n22prison.html.
49. Muslim Chaplains Determined to Join Hands in Serving Community and Nation, Islamic Society of
North America, (Sept. 11, 2005), available at
http://www.ildc.net/display/ShowJournalEntry?moduleld=1928088centry1d=2501608cprinterFriendl
y=true.
50. Muslim Chaplains Meet in Chicago to Map out the Future, Islamic Society of North America, (July 22,
2005), available at
http://www.ildc.net/display/ShowJournalEntry?moduleld=1928088centryld=212744&printerFriendl
y=true.
51. Muslim Chaplains: Challenges, Opportunities and the Road Ahead First Annual Muslim Chaplain
Conference Detailed Report, Islamic Society of North America, (Aug. 30 - Sept. 1, 2005), available at
http://www.ildc.net/2005-mcc-report.
52.
Mustafa Akyol, Anti-Terrorism Resources: Understanding Radical Islam-How we Got Here, Free Muslims
against Terrorism, (2006), available at http://www.freemuslims.org/document.php?id=55.
53.
Nathalie Malinarich, Europe Moves Against Radical Imams, BBC News Online, (June 5, 2004),
available at
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3686617.stm.
Out of the shadows: GETTING AHEAD OF PRISONER RADICALIZATION
B -7
54. No Proof of Terrorist Recruitment by Muslims in US Jails, Daily Times, (June 6, 2005), available at
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp:page=2005%5C06%5C06%5Cstory_6-6-2005_pg7_45.
55. Outraged by Government Leaks, Muslim Leaden- Underscore Value of Chaplains, MPAC News, (Aug. 19,
2005), available at
http://www.archives2005.ghazalimet/html/outraged_by.html.
56. Paul Howard, A Fifth Column in the Prisons? Let's keep firebrand Muslim clerics away from prisoners,
City Journal, (Spring 2006), available at
http://www.city-journal.org/printable.php?id=1997.
57. Rachel Zoll, Islam Behind Bars: American Prisons Have Become Focus of Political, Religious, Arizona
Daily Star, (June 5, 2005), available at
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/78328.
58. Radical Indoctrination in the U.S. Prisons, American Congress for Truth, available at
http://cedarmailer.com/americancongress/pages/archive/messagedetails.asp?11)=256.
59. Radical Islam in U.S. Prisons, Profiles in Terror, (Dec. 28, 2003), available at
http://www.profilesinterror.com/updates/2003_12_28_archive.html.
60.
Radical Islamists in Calfornia Prisons, LA Times, (Aug. 20, 2005), available at
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011930.html.
61.
Rajeev Syal & Chris Hastings, Warnings on Jail Muslims were Ignored by Ministers, telegraph.co.uk,
(Au g. 31, 2002), available at
http://propagandamatrix.com/warnings_on_jail_muslims_were_ignored_by_ministers.html.
62.
Ramadan Challenges Inmates, Prisons as Islam Spreads, Religion Link, (Oct. 9, 2003), available at
http://www.religionlink.org/tip_031009h.php.
63.
Renwick McLean, Spanish Prisons Provide Pool of Recruits for Radical Islam, The New York Times,
(Oct. 31, 2004), available at
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/print.php?p=9184.
64.
Rise of Islam in jails a risk?, WorldWide Religious News, (July 07, 2004), available at
http://www.vvwrn.org/article.php?idd=10213&sec=33&con=5.
65.
Robert S. Leiken, Europe's Angry Muslims, Foreign Affairs, (July/Aug. 2005), available at
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050701faessay84409/robert-s-leiken/europe-s-angrymuslims.html?mode=print.
66.
Russ Wellen, The New Dream Team: White Power and Radical Islam, freezerbox.com, (Dec. 13,
2005), available at
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.php?id=397.
67.
Searching for Mecca in American Prisons, Tagrir Washington, (visited Sept. 4, 2006), available at
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:lx kiRwPGAgj:wi,vw.tagrir.org/eng/showarticle.cfm%3Fid%3D32.
68.
Senator Jon Kyl, Radical Chaplains, Reprinted from National Review On-Line (Oct. 15, 2003),
available at
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/ky1200310150824.asp.
69.
Senator Jon Kyl, Winning the Future, National Ledger.com, (Feb. 27, 2006), available at
http://www.newt.org/backpage.asp?art=2763.
B-8
GW HSPI/UVA CIAG
70. Sheila B. Lalwani, Islam and the Black Inmate: Many Convert while Behind Bars, Journal Sentinel Inc.,
(Mar. 18, 2006), available at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=4088838cformat=print.
71. Siraj Islam Mufti, Islam in American Prisons, Islam Online, (Aug. 31, 2001), available at
http://www.islam-online. net/english/Views/2001/08/article20.shtml.
72. Stephen Schwartz, Islam in the Big House: How Radical Muslims Took over the American Prison System,
The Weekly Standard, (Apr. 24, 2006), available at
http://wNvw.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=12120&R=EC51:23254.
73. Stephen Schwartz, Radical Islam in America: The Media, Prisons, the Military, and Academia are Four Key
Areas Here the Saudi Government and its Wahhabi Ideology have Gained Tremendous Influence in the US,
Society for the Advancement of Education (2005), available at
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2726_134/ai_n15863573/print.
74. Susan Schmidt, Spreading Saudi Fundamentalism in U.S. Network of Wahhabi Mosques, Schools, Web
Sites Probed by FBI, Washington Post Staff Writer, (Oct. 2, 2003), available at
http://www.emjournal.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/aaoc03001.html.
75. Ted Conover, Ministering to the Enemy, New York Times Magazine, (Oct. 12, 2003), available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/magazine/12ESSAY.html?ex=13813776008ten=
a8d5b9a99ec22665&ei=5007&partner=USEM_AiND.
76. The Wrong Kind of Prison Fellowship, BreakPoint Commentaries (Criminal Justice), (Oct. 18, 2005),
available at
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=1497.
77. U.S. Prisons Becoming Islam Battleground, The Multi faith Library, (July 14, 2005), available at
http://www.library.omc.ca/mtarchives/000073.html.
78. Urban Fox, Captive Converts: What Makes Islam So Attractive to Prisoners?, Times Online
Correspondent, (Aug. 11, 2005), available at
http://wmv.timesonline.co.uk/article/0„18389-1732611,00.html.
79.
Wahhabi Prison Fellowship, Weekly Standard, (Sept. 17, 2005), available at
http://counterterrontypepad.corn/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/09/weekly_standard.html.
80.
What Is "Prison Islam'?, SEMP Biot #128, (Oct. 27, 2004), available at
http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_128.html.
81. Yehudit Barsk, Prisons are Creating Terrorists in our Midst, The American Jewish Committee, (Sept.
30, 2005), available at
h t t p : / / w w w . a j c . o r g/ s i c e / a p p s / n 1 / c o n t e n t 2 . a s p ? c = i j I TI 2 P H K o G8 6 = 8 3 8 4 9 3 & c t =
1468229&printmode=1.
V. MEDIA
I. "Captive Audience", Directors: Jamieson Clair, Mukul Devichand Muhammed Athar Lila;
Producer: Columbia University graduate student, at
lutp://www.cameraplanet.com/divisions/comOf id=274.
The George
GEORGE
Washington University
WASHINGTON
Homeland Security
UNIVERSITY
Policy Institute
THE
WASIIINGTON DC
(4041i Incish ftc:Jrcs
The University of Visginia
Critical Incident
Analysis Group
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR T HE CE NT RAL D IST RI CT OF CA LIF OR NI A
October 2004 Grand Jury
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
SA CR
Plaintiff,
I N D I C T M E N T
v.
18 U.S.C. § 2384: Conspiracy to
Levy War Against the United
States Government Through
Terrorism;
KEVIN JAMES, aka "Shakyh
Shahaab Murshid," aka
"Abdul-Wahid Ash-Sheena," aka
"As-Sudaani," aka "AshShafi'e," aka "Ash Shakyh
Sudani," aka "Shahaab Murshid
Adbdul-Wahid
Sudani," aka "Shihab
James," aka "Abdul Wahid,"
aka "Shahaab Murshid," aka
"Shahaab James,"
LEVAR_WASHINGTON, aka "Abdur
Rahman," aka
"Numair," aka "Numair Abd
Rahman," aka "Shihab Numair )
Abd Rahman," aka "Numair Abd
Rahman Ash-Sheena," aka )
(Emir,"
GREGORY PATTERSON, aka
"Bilal," and
HAMMAD SAMANA,
Defendants.
)
18 U.S.C. 5 1117: Conspiracy to
Kill Members of the United
States
Government
Uniformed
Services;
18 U.S.C. § 1117: Conspiracy to
Kill Foreign Officials;
18 U.S.C. § 1951: Interference
With Commerce by Robbery;
18 U.S.C. § 924(0): Conspiracy
to Possess and Discharge
Firearms in Furtherance of
Crimes of Violence;
18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (1): Using
and Carrying a Firearm in
Connection with a Crime of
Violence;
18 U.S.C. § 2: Aiding and
Abetting
inembers ‘bf:, .
imprnvelntOligencegatheringialittninnitor
60
:htmnegly01.iterrpfism
The
pl. andflOrrieland:Security'ate
urging
.;are,1
:with prisons in dozens.cifitateS
COngress
is
working
refornis.',
to
ers arict..COOrte#Ierii*ith:torrori§tlit6rature...;
Its coriserp:becanse: welknnwth#vi0-,
,
,
.thatradical
t9vei#.0#4101
seek rote
By.
1
v
1 1 U S A
prisons.,
lent!.0(teeinisCgentiO *ill tar get,
;spri,ecian:te
2006 .
in.
sosa.l*anic.
ground who ,meet
N*
ct oo:s.n. 1.
w.01'.611:rif:erod:aeceran:altqde's;government:0:1:sithtoiovlunporbitsaeoce..
ing,Pf-31#0041.:..StOppPd-uPC,IttpAigl1 to
curb
.
'
counte
monitor
increase awarenes
Centk4ite§ts.:0-...!..00146::4010.440-behome4.....
grown terror suspects; in London and Cana
.:1100.4:s0tos..:0141,**4404010.„0..itotetrii$41:::
at:ther.hands of `its; own citizen ritish au ';
iiiiii0e04iAti&LgAtath6rtib16::.tijYa,C604'.
Spiracy!tOlgod*:up';,USnOuncl],airjilets.:.with..
liepidbonlb.oricte4.14.0141:;006.0,thaig6d
17. people iti°J ne plot: to3,possess-",
sez ding=investigators`:to ,pr sons ,
OpottytOtatirietititigigenOciotiort*.it04
icalization, are: worried that .s`iriiilarplots
OriOns
be a:. breeding'•. ground, says Charles ;Allen;;
h
1=1*§1a.POSouritys:,...0'
.-spiotopg0-.i.cg0f5cer2
• '.a'.t.Nitiont te::,'8tepth4v;;•Mo...T.Bt011i:LHOrne.*
I0:14.$0.1t.0*0,Wtr0g.1$00.0P-ticAY•0.:,
~D.evelop:more,informantsand'set.,:intire:inteligenCe.:-nnitg..izstate!.iPrinri,Sys,:
1,i$,0611.i4kipi,!,Origsksterti§ to
workwith fatal agents to sl are; information:;
...grie„,4tired4;;moil't],s4s, ;.whether it has. un-.
10-govragept5'jorthe
:.34:00gnize'
.!
; linV.41e4igftOfathetii-alin;nvaieteWs.."ci.
41549PPagatitioditn4o
,rsign5?tl~at
Conduct: background.... checks on volun-.1,
ensiire:extreinist
lim tletic.clon'th0e access.-toprisoneis.
concern is,tintyvith:Prisoninmates
converting tO.Islani,r.sayS.Seh.S..Susaricoliins,
cliaii-.WOre44lithe::.SenateHnme-.
'cotinnittee-.... "For many, conwerf, . this. religionibtingthe,t;itirection and
;;,;purpose
A casein California.;
some US!
prisons hälie.‘.,piawried;t0ni'..Terts.T.0. radical.
and
.?+
MemberS.,;:of an extremist
Oup...yObbed
star
ohs in:2005 to raise .inoneY to finance ter-.:
i0ristattacl&on the United States.
The'l-gentes :.fnunder, :Kevin:James, is
•legea: by tb401.:.to.,,liave:tecriiited:tneenlpers
rneintierssor. the:M-0pp are!
awaitiing trial on charges including conspu-a ;.
.4,00clielib*,rnanynthei..' i
conspiracies•,di7•40king.shaii6;under.ole
iri'Other prisons;:,,.' Collins
1
2
The Grand Jury charges:
INTRODUCTORY ALLEGATIONS
1.
3
4
5
In approximately 1997, defendant KEVIN JAMES, aka "Shakyh
Shahaab Murshid," aka "Abdul-Wahid Ash-Sheena," aka "AsSudaani," aka
"Ash-Shafi'e," aka "Ash Shakyh Sudani," aka "Shahaab Murshid
6
Adbdul-Wahid Sudani," aka "Shihab James," aka "Abdul Wahid," aka
7
"Shahaab Murshid," aka "Shahaab James," ("JAMES"), a California prison
8
inmate, founded an organization entitled Jam'iyyat U1 -Islam
9
Is-Saheeh ("JIS") based on his radical interpretation of Islam.
2.
10
Defendant JAMES preached the duty of JIS members to target for
11 violent attack any enemies of Islam or "infidels," including the United
States Government and Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of Israel.
12
3.
Defendant JAMES actively recruited his fellow prison inmates
13
14
to join JIS by clandestinely distributing a document or "protocol," which
15 set forth defendant JAMES' religious teachings about Islam, including
16 the justification for killing infidels or non-believers, and guidelines
17
to be followed by JIS members ("JIS Protocol").
18
4.
Defendant JAMES required prospective JIS members to take
19 an oath of obedience to him and swear not to disclose the existence of
20 JIS. Defendant JAMES also required prospective JIS members to swear that
21 they would obey a ninety day contact rule, wherein they would communicate
22 with defendant JAMES at least once during every ninety day period.
23
5.
In addition to his recruitment efforts inside prison, defendant
24 JAMES also sought to establish groups or "cells" of JIS
25 2
26
27
28
members outside of prison which would carry out violent attacks against
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
perceived infidels, including the United States Government, the
Government of Israel, and Jewish persons.
6.
In and around November 2004, defendant LEVAR
WASHINGTON, aka "Abdur Rahman," aka "Numair," aka "Numair Abd Rahman,"
aka "Shihab Numair Abd Rahman," aka "Numair Abd Rahman Ash-Sheena,"
aka "Emir," ("WASHINGTON"), who was incarcerated with defendant JAMES
at the California State Prison-Sacramento, gave an oath of allegiance
to defendant JAMES and joined JIS.
7.
On or about November 29, 2004, defendant WASHINGTON was
10
11
12
13
14
paroled from the California State Prison-Sacramento.
S.
Paragraphs
One
through
Seven
of this
Indictment
are
incorporated by reference and realleged in each of the Counts below
as if set forth in full.
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
3
COUNT ONE
1
2
[18 U.S.C. § 23843
3
OBJECTS OF THE CONSPIRACY
4
9.
From a date unknown to the Grand Jury but at least
5 since December 2004, and continuing to July 5, 2005, in Los
6 Angeles and Orange Counties, within the Central District of
7 California, and elsewhere, defendants JAMES, WASHINGTON, GREGORY
8 PATTERSON, aka "Bilal," ("PATTERSON"), and HAMMAD SAMANA
9 ("SAMANA") did knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully combine,
10 conspire, confederate, and agree together and with persons known
11 and unknown to the Grand Jury, to levy a war against the
12 Government of the United States through terrorism, and to oppose
13 by force the authority thereof, all in violation of Title 18,
14 United States Code, Section 2384.
15
16
MEANS BY WHICH THE OBJECTS OF THE CONSPIRACY WERE TO BE
ACCOMPLISHED
17
10.
The objects of the conspiracy were to be accomplished
18 in substance as follows:
19
20
Leadership of Defendant JAMES
a.
Defendant JAMES would and did provide
21 instructions, spiritual and tactical guidance, and support to
22 defendants WASHINGTON, PATTERSON, and SAMANA, in carrying out the
23 war against the United States Government through terrorism.
24
25
United States Military Targets
b.
Members of the conspiracy would and did target and
26 conduct surveillance of United States military facilities, such
27 as recruitment centers and military bases, in the Los Angeles
28
4
1 area, in preparation to kill United States military personnel.
c.
Members of the conspiracy would and did plan their methods
2
of
attack
on
United
States military facilities, including the types of
3
4
weapons to use, in order to maximize the number of casualties to be
5
inflicted.
6
Government of Israel Targets
d.
7
8
9
10
11
Members of the conspiracy would and did target and conduct
surveillance of Government of Israel facilities in the Los Angeles
area, including the Israeli Consulate and El Al, the national airline
of Israel, in preparation to kill Israeli officials.
Synagogues
e.
12
Members of the conspiracy would and did target and conduct
13
surveillance of synagogues in the Los Angeles area in preparation to kill
14
Jewish persons.
f.
15
Members of the conspiracy would and did plan to attack
16
synagogues in the Los Angeles area on Jewish holidays, in order to
17
maximize the number of casualties to be inflicted.
18
Procurement of Weapons
g.
19
Members of the conspiracy would and did purchase, solicit
20
others to purchase on their behalf, and otherwise acquire weapons,
21
including firearms, which would be used to carry out their planned
22
attacks.
23
Financing
h.
24
Members of the conspiracy would and did commit armed
25
robberies of gas stations, and provide financial support to each other,
26
in order to purchase weapons, including firearms, and otherwise fund
27
their conspiracy.
28
5
1 Training
i.
2
3
4
5
6
carrying out their planned attacks against United States military
facilities, Government of Israel targets, and synagogues.
Recruitment
j.
7
Concealment of Activities
9
k.
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Members of the conspiracy would and did attempt to recruit
others to join the conspiracy and otherwise support it.
8
11
Members of the conspiracy would and did engage in
firearms training and physical training in preparation for
Members of the conspiracy would and did conceal from law
enforcement the manner in which the members carried out the conspiracy,
the locations at which members discussed and carried out the
conspiracy, and the locations at which members stored and possessed
weapons, including firearms, and maintained the finances of the
conspiracy, including the proceeds from gas station robberies.
OVERT ACTS
11.
In furtherance of the conspiracy and to accomplish the o b j e c t s
o f t h e c o n s p i r a c y , t h e d e f e n d a n t s a n d t h e i r c o conspirators
committed the following overt acts, among others, in Los Angeles and
Orange Counties, within the Central District of California, and
elsewhere:
a.
In or about December 2004, defendant JAMES instructed
23
defendant WASHINGTON to (1) recruit five individuals without felony
24
convictions and train them in covert operations; (2) acquire two
25
firearms with silencers; and (3) appoint an individual from the group
26
he recruited to find contacts for explosives or learn to make bombs that
27
could be activated from a
28
distance.
b.
2
In or about December 2004, defendant WASHINGTON advised
3
defendant JAMES that he was prepared to follow defendant JAMES to victory
4
or martyrdom.
c.
5
Between in or about December 2004 and July 5, 2005,
6
defendant JAMES advised defendant WASHINGTON about security for the
7
planned war against the United States Government through terrorism.
d.
8
Between in or about December 2004 and July 5, 2005,
9
defendant WASHINGTON reaffirmed his allegiance to defendant JAMES by
10
pledging his loyalty until death by martyrdom.
e.
11
Between in or about December 2004 and July 5, 2005,
12
defendant WASHINGTON informed defendant JAMES of defendant SAMANA's
13
suitability for the planned war against the United States Government
14
through terrorism.
f.
15
Between in or about December 2004 and July 5, 2005,
16
defendant PATTERSON used a computer to conduct internet research on El
17
Al, the national airline of Israel, located at the Los Angeles
18
International Airport.
g.
19
Between in or about December 2004 and July 5, 2005,
20
defendant PATTERSON used a computer to conduct internet research on
21
Jewish events in Los Angeles for Yom Kippur in October 2005.
h.
22
On or about March 21, 2005, defendant JAMES advised
23
defendant WASHINGTON of his efforts to have defendant PATTERSON visit
24
him at the California State Prison-Sacramento, and offered guidance
25
regarding defendant WASHINGTON's recruitment efforts.
26
27
28
7
1
i.
In or about March or April 2005, defendant
2 WASHINGTON attempted to recruit an individual to join the
conspiracy.
3
4
j.
Beginning on or about May 19, 2005, and continuing through
5 on or about June 7, 2005, defendant PATTERSON used a. computer to conduct
6 internet research on the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles.
k.
On or about May 30, 2005, defendant PATTERSON robbed
7
8 a gas station in Los Angeles, California.
9
1.
In or about June 2005, defendant WASHINGTON
10 attempted to recruit an individual to join the conspiracy.
11
m.
On or about June 6, 2005, defendant WASHINGTON, armed
12 with a shotgun, and defendant PATTERSON robbed a gas station in
13 Torrance, California.
14
n.
On or about June 12, 2005, defendant PATTERSON, armed
15 with a shotgun, and defendant SAMANA robbed a gas station in Playa Del
16 Rey, California.
17
o.
On or about June 16, 2005, defendant PATTERSON, armed
18 with a shotgun, robbed a gas station in Torrance, California.
19
p.
On or about June 18, 2005, defendant PATTERSON, armed
20 with a shotgun, robbed a gas station in Bellflower, California.
21
q.
On or about June 20, 2005, defendant PATTERSON, armed
22 with a shotgun, attempted to rob a gas station in Los Angeles,
23 California.
24
r.
On or about June 21, 2005, defendant PATTERSON, armed
25 with a shotgun, robbed a gas station in Pico Rivera,
26 8
27
28
1 California.
s.
2
3
t.
4
5
On or about June 21, 2005, defendant PATTERSON, armed
with a shotgun, robbed a gas station in Walnut, California.
On or about June 21, 2005, defendant SAMANA robbed a gas
station in Orange, California.
u.
6
On or about June 22, 2005, defendant PATTERSON
7
updated defendant JAMES on the progress of the planned war against
8
the United States Government through terrorism.
9
v.
On or about June 29, 2005, defendant PATTERSON
10 purchased a .223 caliber rifle.
11
w.
On or about July 2, 2005, defendant SAMANA used a
12 computer to conduct internet research on the Israeli Consulate in
13 Los Angeles, including the identity of specific Israeli officials.
14
x.
On or about July 2. 2005, defendant SAMANA used a
15 computer to conduct internet research on United States military
16 recruitment offices in the Los Angeles area.
17
y.
On or about July 3, 2005, defendant PATTERSON, armed
18 with a shotgun, robbed a gas station in Playa Vista, California.
19
z.
On or about July 3, 2005, defendant PATTERSON used a
20 computer to conduct internet research on Jewish events in Los Angeles
21 during the months of July and August.
22
aa.
Between July 1, 2005, and July 5, 2005, defendant SAMANA
23 drafted a document listing Government of Israel and United States
24 military targets in the Los Angeles area, including the addresses of those
25 targets.
26
27
28
bb.
On or about July 4, 2005, defendant SAMANA
9
1
participated in firearms training and physical training in a park in Los
2 Angeles, California.
cc.
On or about July 5, 2005, defendant WASHINGTON, armed
3
4 with a shotgun, and defendant PATTERSON robbed a gas station in
5 Fullerton, California.
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
1
6
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
10
COUNT TWO
2
3
12.
[18 U.S.C. § 1117]
The allegations in Count One of this Indictment are
incorporated by reference and realleged herein as if set forth in full.
4
5
6
7
13.
From a date unknown to the grand jury but at least since
March 2005, and continuing to July 5, 2005, in Los Angeles and Orange
Counties, within the Central District of California, and elsewhere,
8
defendants WASHINGTON, PATTERSON, and SAMANA did k n o w i n g l y ,
9
w i l l f u l l y , a n d u n l a w f u l l y c o m b i n e , c o n s p i r e , confederate, and
10 agree together and with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury,
11
12
to kill, with premeditation and malice aforethought, members of the
United States Government uniformed services, while such members were
13 engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties, in
14 violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1111 and 11i4, all
15 in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1117.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
11
1
COUNT THREE
2
(18 U.S.C. § 1117]
3
14. The allegations in Count One of this Indictment are
4 incorporated by reference and realleged herein as if set forth in
5 full.
6
15. From a date unknown to the grand jury but at least
7 since March 2005, and continuing to July 5, 2005, in Los Angeles
8 and Orange Counties, within the Central District of California,
9 and elsewhere, defendants WASHINGTON, PATTERSON, and SAMANA did
10 knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully combine, conspire,
11 confederate, and agree together and with persons known and
12 unknown to the Grand Jury, to kill, with premeditation and malice
13 aforethought, foreign officials, namely, officials of the
14 Government of Israel, in violation of Title
18, United
States
15 Code, Sections 1111 and 1116, all in violation of Title
16 United States Code, Section 1117.
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
12
18,
1
COUNT FOUR
2 [18 U.S.C. §§ 1951, 2]
3
16. On or about July 5, 2005, in Orange County, within the Central
4 District of California, defendants WASHINGTON and PATTERSON aided,
5 abetted, counseled, induced, and procured the conduct of, and otherwise
6 obstructed, delayed and affected commerce and the movement of
7 articles and commodities in commerce, in that defendants WASHINGTON
8 and PATTERSON took and obtained personal property consisting of
9 approximately 252 dollars in the presence of E.N., an employee at a
10 Chevron gas station located in Fullerton, California, against his will
11 by means of actual and threatened force, violence, and fear of injury,
12 immediate and future, to his person, in violation of Title 18, United
13 States Code, Sections 1951 and 2.
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 13
1 COUNT FIVE
2
(18 U.S.C. 55 924(c), 924(o))
17.
3
4
5
Indictment are incorporated by reference and reallaged herein as if
set forth in full.
18.
6
7
8
9
10
The allegations in Counts One, Two, and Three of this
From a date unknown to the grand jury but at least since
December 2004, and continuing to July 5, 2005, in Los Angeles and
Orange Counties, within the Central District of Cal if or n ia, a nd
els ew her e, d ef en dan ts J AM E S, WA SH IN GTO N, PATTERSON, and SAMANA did
knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully combine, conspire, confederate,
11 and agree together and with persons known and unknown to the Grand
Jury, to possess and discharge firearms, including destructive devices,
12
as defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 921(a) (4), in
13
14 furtherance of a crime of violence for which they may be prosecuted
15
in a court of the United States, namely, Conspiracy to Levy War
16 Against the United States Government Through Terrorism, in
17 violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2384, as charged
in Count One of this Indictment, Conspiracy to Kill Members of the
18
19 United States Government Uniformed Services, in violation of Title 18,
20
21
United States Code, Section 1117, as charged in Count Two of this
Indictment, and Conspiracy to Kill Foreign Officials, in violation of
22 Title 18, United States Code, Section 1117, as charged in Count Three
23 of this Indictment, all in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
24 Sections 924(c) and 929(o).
25
26
27 19
28
1
COUNT SIX
2 (18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c) (1), 2)
19.
of
3 On or about July 5, 2005, in Orange County, within the Central District
4 California, defendants WASHINGTON and PATTERSON, during and in
5
States
relation to a crime of violence for which defendants WASHINGTON and
6 PATTERSON may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, namely,
Interference with Commerce by Robbery, in violation of Title 18, United
7
8 Code, Section 1951, as charged in Count Four of this Indictment,
9 knowingly aided, abetted, counseled, induced, and procured the conduct
of, and 10 otherwise used and carried a firearm, to wit, a Mossberg twelve gauge
11 shotgun, serial number R379127, in violation of Title 18, United
States
12 Code, Sections 924(c) (1) and 2.
13
14 A TRUE BILL
15
16 ______________________________ Foreperson
17
18 DEBRA WONG YANG
United States Attorney
19
20 WAYNE R. GROSS
Assistant United States Attorney
21 Chief, Santa Ana Branch Office
22
23 KEVIN E. SMITH
Assistant United States Attorney
24 Deputy Chief, Organized Crime and Terrorism Section
25
26
27
28
15