Prisons tighten Muslim chaplain criteria

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The U.S. Bureau of Prisons, criticized in May for allowing a shortage of Muslim chaplains to threaten prison security and increase the potential for terrorism, has taken "important steps" in correcting the problems, a report said yesterday.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said the bureau had either closed or resolved all but three of 16 recommendations made to correct problems in the selection, screening and supervision of Muslim chaplains, contractors and volunteers who work with 9,000 Muslim inmates.

Two months ago, Mr. Fine said that without sufficient Muslim chaplains on staff, inmates were more likely to lead their own religious services, distort Islam and espouse extremist beliefs. The "presence of extremist chaplains, contractors or volunteers ... can pose a threat to institutional security and could implicate national security if inmates are encouraged to commit terrorist acts against the United States," he added.

He said it was "imperative" that the bureau had in place sound screening and supervision practices that would "identify persons who seek to disrupt the order of its institutions or to inflict harm on the United States through terrorism."

Mr. Fine noted at the time that only 10 Muslim chaplains were available to the bureau, three fewer than needed to overcome "a critical shortage," and that the chaplains had told investigators that some inmates were being radicalized by other prisoners.

Harley G. Lappin, director of the Bureau of Prisons, said in a response to the inspector general's report that the agency had developed further screening criteria to be used during the application process for Muslim chaplains, volunteers and contractors.

Mr. Lappin said the criteria would seek to determine the applicants' endorsement of violence, their support of terrorism, whether they had advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government, and any discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

He also said that religious providers would be personally interviewed to determine whether they were appropriately placed, that they would be required to submit letters of recommendation and that the agency would work closer with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Mr. Fine's investigation began after several members of Congress expressed concern that the bureau had relied on two Islamic groups to endorse its Muslim chaplains, the Islamic Society of North America and the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council. Both organizations have been under federal investigation as part of a probe into terrorist financing.

Concerns regarding the radicalization of Muslim inmates were heightened after former inmates Richard C. Reid and Jose Padilla were arrested for terrorist acts against the United States.

Reid, convicted for attempting to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes, had converted to Islam in a British prison. British officials suspect that he was radicalized by clerics who preached at the prison.

Padilla, arrested for attempting to detonate a "dirty bomb" in the United States, had converted to Islam in a Florida jail, where authorities suspect his Islamic radicalization began.