Britain: Shrinks to deprogram extremist muslim prisoners

Prisons in England are currently facing a growing problem with inmates who are turning to jihadi ideology. In maximum security prisons muslims make up to 35% of the inmate population. Way above the proportion of muslims in the general population of England.

Psychologists in England are set to 'deprogram' prisoners who are muslim extremists. The psychologists will use similar therapies used to deprogram members of religious cults.

Is this an indirect admission that islam is more like a cult than a religion? Mail on Sunday

Psychologists in the Prison Service will try to ‘cure’ extremist Muslim inmates of their political beliefs with controversial therapies similar to those used to ‘de-programme’ members of religious cults.

The experimental treatments are being developed by a special Extremism Unit set up by the Ministry of Justice in January last year, The Mail on Sunday has discovered.
Sources say the therapy forms part of a wide-ranging strategy to combat Islamic extremism in Britain’s jails.

There are 90 Muslim prisoners serving time for terrorist offences, and the Ministry fears that, if left unchallenged, their violent, jihadist interpretation of Islam will spread.
About 11 per cent of prisoners are Muslim - three-and-a-half times the proportion in the UK population. In maximum security ‘Category A’ jails such as Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire - the subject today of an exclusive report in Live magazine based on unprecedented access to both prisoners and staff - they make up 35 per cent of the inmates, and have converted numerous other prisoners to Islam.

In Whitemoor the 150 Muslim inmates include 39 who have converted in the jail since early last year. In some cases, officers believe converts have been subjected to bullying and changed their faith because they felt vulnerable.[...]

Psychologists working with the Extremism Unit have for months been investigating ways of de-programming jihadists. Ministry sources said they planned to use ‘cognitive- behaviour’ methods, based on the notion that it is possible to change people’s behaviour by altering their perceptions and attitudes.
One source said: ‘It’s pretty clear it wouldn’t work with everyone. But our view of extremism is that, at the centre, the views of the hardcore, high-profile leaders will not be subject to change. But for those further out, it may be quite effective.’[...]

On the front line are approximately 150 prison imams, who are expected to challenge extremist beliefs on the basis of their own religious knowledge.
One source said: ‘We’re looking to them to shoot down the religious justification for violence. They have to be able to stand up to those who support terrorist killers and say they are wrong.’

Thats like sending wolves into the hen house. Read the whole thing.