Congested prisons recruitment hubs for terrorists — military

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s congested prison facilities have become a fertile source of recruits for ISIS-linked extremists, prompting security and military officials to urgently call for the creation of special courts and installation of dedicated detention facilities for terror suspects.

During a recent Senate hearing into the proposed amendments to the Human Security Act of 2007, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Armed Forces chief Gen. Carlito Galvez said the recruitment of Islamic extremists in prisons often happen when a terror suspect is detained along with common and hardened criminals.

“Our jails, as we know, are overcrowded and you put five people there who are terrorists and, in a short time, they can recruit many detainees into joining their extreme and very violent religious ideology,” Esperon said.

Galvez said the new converts are generally more violent and deadly, as they are not only out to prove themselves but already have criminal tendencies and skills, and therefore need little convincing to commit terror acts.

The military chief cited the government’s experience in the siege of Marawi City, where they have accounted for or neutralized over 300 converts of extremist Islamic ideology who were mostly recruited from prison.

This recruitment process, he added, was the same as that done by ISIS in the Middle East and Africa, the result of which was having more violent recruits coming from the ranks of criminals that allowed the extremist group to take over large territories in Iraq and Syria.

He stressed the need for the creation of special courts and secure detention facilities as a majority of terror suspects detained in some areas in Mindanao – like Basilan, Sulu and Zamboanga – are allegedly freed by judges whose families are threatened. Most of the time, these criminals gain freedom through jail breaks or attacks by militants on detention facilities to spring out their comrades, along with the new recruits.

“We’re recommending that there’ll be special courts, so that when we arrest them (terror and drug suspects) we can immediately bring them to Manila, and they’ll be neutralized, at least the high-value individuals,” Galvez told the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

He said the creation of special courts and dedicated detention facilities was very effective in containing extremism in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Secure and separate detention facilities allow the government to not only isolate terror suspects but also give them a chance to reform with the help of their families. 

He said in Singapore, a terror suspect is given a dedicated social worker, a case officer and an imam to help the detainee reform with the help of family.

The Singaporean program has successfully reformed over 500 detainees and greatly weakened extremist presence, particularly Jemaah Islamiya, in the island-state, Galvez said. 

He added that such a program for local terror suspects in special detention facilities will “cut the generational links of terrorism.”

“As we’ve seen, if one (terror suspect) is killed, others from the family sprout – a multi-headed snake as they say,” he pointed out as he cited cases in Malaysia and Indonesia where the extremist ideology is cured with “faith and healing.”