Radicalization a growing risk in Canadian prisons, experts warn

Not an easy issue to address. Comments by former prison chaplam Imam Dwyer worth noting:

Imam Yasin Dwyer worked as a chaplain in federal prisons for 11 years, but left his formal role after CSC moved to a privatized model for chaplaincy services. Dwyer says the chaplains had proven successful in building trust relationships with inmates, and the change severed critical ties to community.

“If the community is not speaking with authority about what religion is, in our case about what Islam is — especially in a correctional context — if the community doesn’t have that authority, then perhaps that authority may fall to voices that have not been granted that authority by the faith community,” he warned.

While most Muslims behind bars use faith to find meaning and guide them through incarceration, some are dealing with issues that make them vulnerable to radicalization.

Dwyer, who provided pastoral services to six of the Toronto 18 terror cell members, says he had success despite a lack of government support.

“It’s not even a matter of doing enough — it’s are we doing anything at all?” he says. “As the Muslim chaplain, I was looked upon to deal with these particular offenders, minus the resources to do it effectively.”

Dwyer says he does not want to contribute to fear-mongering, but wants to raise a red flag.

“Prisoners are in a very adversarial environment. It is a potentially violent environment where people are quite jaded and there is a real absence of consistent light. So in that situation, in that state of anger and isolation, you may have the potential of those falling into some sort of alternative dysfunctional narrative of what Islam is. That’s the flag that I would put out.”

Last month, CSC hosted an international roundtable and symposium on managing radical offenders that brought in experts from the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand, Israel, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

While there are publicly available statistics on aboriginal prisoners, have not seen statistics broken down by visible minority or religion.

Radicalization a growing risk in Canadian prisons, experts warn – Politics – CBC News.