Australia’s Prison System Infiltrated
Charles Johnson
Mon Dec 3, 2007 at 10:21 am PST • Views: 303
Inmates studying al-Qaeda manual.
ISLAMIC extremists are using an al-Qaeda training manual to give them instructions for taking over the state’s toughest jails, prison authorities have alleged.
Up to 40 inmates had established an internal organisational structure to maintain morale, resist interrogation and recruit members to Islam. The prisoners had set up leadership groups in several maximum-security jails, with their activities governed by the code outlined in the al-Qaeda manual for incarcerated followers. A number of Corrective Services staff have been targeted, some with violent threats by inmate groups. Other staff have been singled out for conversion to Islam.
NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said an undisclosed number of inmates had been transferred to other jails in an attempt to disrupt the leadership groups. Mr Hatzistergos said he was extremely concerned about the broader attempts to infiltrate the jail system, which were uncovered after sweeping changes to prison regulations allowed 24-hour monitoring of Muslim inmates.
The latest crackdown followed the disclosure this year that a third of the state’s most dangerous criminals held in the highest-security jail in Australia, the Super Max facility inside Goulburn jail, were Muslim fundamentalists or converts to Islam.
Frank says: