Indonesian prisons ‘are jihadist breeding grounds’, say experts
Jail staff lack the ability to identify ‘high-risk’ prisoners
Indonesia’s overcrowded prisons are ill-equipped to deal with Islamic militant inmates, hampering efforts to prevent the spread of violent radicalism in institutions that have become known as jihadist breeding grounds, a study has found.
The research by University of Indonesia psychologists, which adds to years of warnings by experts, found that prison staff lack the ability to identify “high-risk” prisoners who could recruit other inmates because they are given limited information and little specialist training.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majori ty nation, has arrested and imprisoned hundreds of Islamic militants in a crackdown that followed an attack on the island of Bali in 2002. Yet many remained committed to violent extremism – both during and after their incarceration – and used their time in prison to radicalise others who went on to commit acts of violence.
The eight-month study at the four largest Indonesian prisons found staff who have close contact with inmates do not know how to limit the influence of hard-line ideologues or identify the less ideologically committed who could be disentangled with simple interventions, said Faisal Magrie, coordinator of the research.
The problems in the prison system are often defeating efforts to turn convicted militants away from radicalism, he said.
The challenges are exacerbated by poor co-ordination among government agencies and non-government organisations, which leads to duplicated efforts and unclear deradicalisation programmes, Magrie said.
“As a result, inmates are confused by the programme, bored, and eventually refuse to participate,” he said.
Irfan Idris, director of deradicalisation at the National Counter-terrorism Agency, said the radicalisation of ordinary criminals by militants who support the Islamic State group continues to be a nightmare for police and prison officials.
He said at least 18 former prisoners have been involved in extremist cases in Indonesia since 2010, and most were radicalised in prison.
Efforts have since been made to isolate high-profile militant leaders to prevent the spread of violent ideology.
two such ideologues in prison are Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the Southeast Asian radical network Jemaah Islamiyah, and Aman Abdurrahman, the main Indonesian translator for IS propaganda and the leader of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a network of almost two dozen Indonesian extremist groups formed in 2015.
Both Bashir and Aman have followings in and out of prison. Aman inspired those who staged a 2016 attack in Jakarta that left eight people dead, including the four perpetrators. After that attack, the two were isolated from other prisoners and visitors were restricted.
Yudi Zulfahri, a graduate of Indonesia’s civil service training college who later became radicalised in an Islamic study group, said he was talked out of radicalism by convicted Bali bomber Ali Imron, who co-operated with police and recanted his extremist beliefs.