TACKLING NEW THREATS EXPERTS SAY STATE'S PRISONS RIPE FOR EXTREMIST GROWTH.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

California's crowded prisons and jails are ripe for the recruiting of homegrown terrorists and pose a potential threat to the nation's security, law enforcement officials and other anti-terrorism experts say.

With the nation marking the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security have enlisted local and state law enforcement officials to be on the lookout for those who are inspired by terrorist ideologies to plot violence against their fellow Americans.

``California and New York are two states looking at this very aggressively,'' said Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University and co-author of an upcoming report on the radicalization of the U.S. jail and prison systems.

``We really don't have all the data we need to be able to put together the full mosaic of this now. And while we have seen some cases, I think it's fair to say in all likelihood, this is just the tip of the iceberg.''

Warren Bamford, special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI office in Los Angeles, said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is tracking inmates who are making threatening statements.

``It really comes to the top (of our worries) because these people are there, they have a significant amount of time on their hands and the radicalization process can become very extreme,'' Bamford said. ``They have a lot of time to plan and think about their actions once they are on the outside. For those reasons, it gives us some real concerns.''

The case that brought the matter to the attention of authorities occurred in August 2005, when four men were indicted for their alleged roles in a terrorist plot to attack U.S. military facilities and Jewish synagogues in the Los Angeles area to avenge the U.S. war in Iraq and the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Some of the jihadists, who were arrested by Torrance police on suspicion of robbing gas stations to raise money for the attacks, met at Folsom State Prison and were members of the radical Islamic group Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, which was founded in the facility in 1997.

Trial for the four suspects is scheduled for August 2007.

``That case connected back to the radicalization of inmates where they were going in as bad people and coming out even worse because they had become radicalized Muslims in prison,'' said Chris Bertelli, assistant deputy director of the governor's Office of Homeland Security. ``That's led to greater efforts to identify those activities.

``Generally, you have different prison gangs who preach a radical form of Islam and hatred toward the United States who recruit people. While efforts by the FBI to track this are extremely important, it's the state and local law enforcement officials who are really going to have to agree to play a role if we are going to find more homegrown terrorist activity.''

Sheriff's Department Cmdr. Mike Grossman, who oversees the county's Terrorism Early Warning Group, said there have been no specific instances about homegrown terrorists emerging from the jail system, but that authorities remain on the alert.

``Are there people in our jail system who could become radicalized?'' Grossman asked rhetorically. ``Of course. That's the nature of terrorism. It can come from anywhere. The way you deal with that situation is through information, to get as much information as you can and try to piece together what may occur and who may do it.''

Marc Klugman, chief of the Correctional Services Bureau that oversees the 19,000 inmates in the county jail system, said his deputies look for signs of radicalization of inmates.

``But we don't have the specific units designed to do that at this point,'' Klugman said.

Hussam Ayloush, Southern California executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the Islamic study classes that chaplains teach in the jails and prisons have had a very positive impact on criminals.

``Even assuming the (few) people who became radicalized in the prison system, there is no indication this is a true representation of what is happening there,'' Ayloush said. ``These cases are the exceptions.''

In the past three decades, Islam has become widely popular in the U.S. penal system, with estimates that up to one-fifth of inmates are Muslims.

Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said officials continue to investigate the phenomenon among the state's 173,000 inmates and seven major prison gangs.

Since August 2005, Thornton said, the state prison system has been working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and other prison systems around the nation to share information about anyone suspected of plotting terrorist attacks behind bars.

``There have been threat assessments conducted,'' Thornton said. ``All these kinds of activities and this partnership with federal authorities will enhance efforts to identify any kind of disruptive efforts by extremist persons or groups.

``The thing to remember though is that prison gang members are in our prisons. We have the ability to watch them. We know who is visiting them. We know who is writing to them. We can monitor their phone calls.

``While I don't want to underestimate the impact these groups may have ... they are in our custody and it enables us to very closely monitor them.''

Dr. Jeff Victoroff, an expert on the psychology of terrorists and an associate professor of clinical neurology and psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, said law enforcement needs to make sure that prison-based programs of Islamic education are not directed by people who support terrorism.

``To the best of my knowledge, the problem has never been properly measured,'' Victoroff said. ``I agree with the FBI that the problem exists. But it's very hard for anyone to say without better research whether the net effect of Islamic education in the California prisons is beneficial or detrimental to society.

``My instinct is that if this were studied in a serious way, we'd find there are a few bad apples that are poisoning an otherwise worthwhile program.''

Klugman said chaplains who provide religious training are screened to make sure they are not teaching views that would jeopardize jail security.

Cilluffo noted that some of the ``most forward-leaning work'' to address the problem has been conducted in Los Angeles County and California.

``As we look at solutions, the law enforcement part is only a piece,'' Cilluffo said. ``We need to bring into the fold the chaplains and religious scholars who are going to be just as important to being able to get our arms around this challenge and provide solutions as any law enforcement officer will.

``If you don't have the cultural or religious background, you don't necessarily know if something is awry.''

Charles E. Allen, chief intelligence officer and assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton and other officials are sharing information about inmates who make threatening statements while incarcerated and tracking them when they get out.

As part of efforts to prevent terrorism, Ayloush said, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are working closely with the Muslim community.

``Even if we potentially face a problem where a small segment might be pushed toward radicalism (in jails and prisons) ... and someone crosses the line into violence, I think the first line of defense is going to come from the Muslim community.

``As it feels accepted and trusted by law enforcement and the rest of America, they will feel the urge and comfort to approach law enforcement to say, hey, there is something fishy here. Something doesn't smell right.

``This should not lead us to suspect the Muslim community, but lead us to increase our partnership work with the American Muslim community.''

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Mimi Rios looks at a flag in the NYC 9-11 Memorial Field at Inwood Hill Park in New York on Friday. Three thousand flags with names of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center are set up for the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

Shiho Fukada/Associated Press