Prison-based deradicalization for terrorist detainees: An analysis of programmatic religious re-education and systematic institutionalization and their impact on achieving deradicalization

This dissertation examines prison-based deradicalization programs for terrorist detainees and argues that highly institutionalized deradicalization programs that include a robust religious re-education component are more likely to be effective in achieving deradicalization when adequately funded. By using case studies of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Yemen and Western Europe to investigate and analyze prison-based deradicalization programs, the study provides an opportunity to acutely focus on the program components and their particular initiatives in order to analyze and assess whether they positively impact the effectiveness of deradicalization. The historical re-education program for German POWs in the United States during denazification in WWII is informative as it raises some of the similar issues faced today with the deradicalization of radical jihadists. Based on the findings of the cases, an examination of the U.S. programs in Iraq and Afghanistan are also explored. For contrast, a review of the recidivism concerns raised by the released prisoners of Guantanamo is also addressed to underscore the dangers of not providing any type of rehabilitation to Islamist terrorist detainees. Additionally, the challenges that the U.S. faces in implementing a prison-based deradicalization program stateside is analyzed. This study further clarifies the relationship between disengagement and deradicalization and program components by emphasizing that institutionalization helps bring about disengagement by providing the needed support for the terrorist detainee, while religious re-education works to achieve the long-term deradicalization, in which violence and belief in violent jihad is eventually abandoned. Finally, the research contributes to Counterterrorism Studies and the Political Science field, such as International Relations and even Security Studies, by examining some important empirical and conceptual concerns that surround prison-based deradicalization. Most importantly, the goal of the dissertation is to improve the program policies that already exist, especially for those states with more limited funds, as well as inform other countries, particularly in the West, on the potential benefits of an appropriately applied prison-based deradicalization program.