[Ppnews] FBI to Do Prisoner 'Threat Assessment'

[Political Prisoner News]

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AP: FBI to Do Prisoner 'Threat Assessment'
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By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer

August 31, 2005, 4:41 AM CDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- FBI agents nationwide have been ordered to conduct 
"threat assessments" of inmates who may have become radicalized in prison 
and could commit extremist violence upon their release, according to an FBI 
letter obtained by The Associated Press.

"The primary goal of these efforts is to assess and disrupt the recruitment 
and conversion of inmates to radicalized ideologies which advocate 
violence," according to a letter from the acting assistant chief of the 
FBI's Los Angeles office, Randy D. Parsons.

The agency has been concerned since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks 
that groups with extremist ideologies may be targeting felons as prime 
candidates for conversion during their time in prison.

The agency has worked with prison officials to identify potentially 
disruptive groups for "some time," according to the letter. "However, 
recent investigations have identified a clear need to increase the FBI's 
focus and commitment in this area," Parsons wrote in the letter, dated 
Friday and obtained Tuesday by the AP.

He said the FBI wants to increase its efforts to "identify, report, analyze 
and disrupt efforts by extremist persons or groups to radicalize, recruit 
or advocate for the purpose of violence within correctional facilities."

Spokeswomen for the FBI's Los Angeles office and for the FBI in Washington, 
D.C., declined to comment on the letter.

Karen Ernst, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Sacramento, confirmed her office 
is participating in the "threat assessments."

The order comes as an investigation continues into whether a suspected 
Southern California terror plot originated in a state prison in Folsom, 
near Sacramento. Three Los Angeles area men, including a parolee from 
California State Prison, Sacramento, are suspected of plotting attacks on 
Jewish and National Guard sites.

FBI director Robert Mueller warned the Senate Intelligence Committee in 
February that prisons are "fertile ground for extremists."

"The FBI will be going into each institution and assessing each 
population," said Todd Slosek, spokesman for the California Department of 
Corrections and Rehabilitation.

He expects the FBI to examine the department's information on all 
"disruptive groups," including prison gangs and Islamic organizations.

That shouldn't interfere with inmate religious practices, free speech or 
other rights, Parsons wrote in the letter.

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council 
in Los Angeles, said he worries that some inmates are forming radical 
groups and "putting a veneer on it and calling it Islam."

He also said that many inmates who adopt religion in prison emerge less 
violent.

Authorities said they believe the Southern California plan originated in a 
shadowy group at the Folsom prison known as Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh.

That case arose after 25-year-old Levar Haley Washington and another man 
were arrested July 5 by police in Torrance, a suburb southwest of Los 
Angeles, for investigation of robbing gas stations.

Counterterrorism officials in California have said they suspect a list 
found in Washington's Los Angeles apartment contained potential terrorist 
targets, although Washington has not been charged with a terrorism-related 
crime. The list included National Guard recruiting stations, synagogues and 
the Israeli Consulate.

Authorities believe the attacks were to be carried out this coming Sept. 
11, George Gascon, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, 
has said.

Washington converted to Islam in the Sacramento-area prison before his 
parole in November.

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Associated Press Writer Jeremiah Marquez in Los Angeles contributed to this 
report.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Associated Press






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