Highlights
– Prison riots result of government militant segregation program
– Highly organized inter-prison communication, recruitment, and training network
– Abusive interrogation techniques fuels recruitment
– Government unlikely to reform interrogation procedures
– Communication and recruitment networks disrupted by segregating militants from non-militants
The Muwaqqar prison riot in Jordan on April 14, 2008 was followed by a solidarity riot in Jordan’s largest prison, Swaqa, a day later. The Muwaqqar riot ignited when prison guards began to separate militant prisoners from the general population. Prisoners reacted by setting their cells on fire, burning mattress and beds, and smashing lampposts and windows. Prisoners then cut themselves with the broken glass. The following day, in like manner, prisoners in Swaqa lit their cells on fire. All told, three prisoners died from smoke inhalation, dozens were wounded, and 400 prisoners were evacuated.
Last week’s violence was representative of an ongoing trend in Jordanian prisons since 2001. Following September 11, 2001, the US began using Jordanian prisons as holding cells for terrorist suspects. Today, Jordanian prisons house a vibrant recruiting and training network for al-Qaeda-linked militants. Despite some government efforts to curb jihadist recruitment, significant prison reform is needed.
Prison Riots
In the past three years, Jordan has faced large-scale prison riots that tested the strength and determination of security personnel. The longest standoff between prisoners and security forces occurred on March 1, 2006 when Jwaideh prisoners took several police officers hostage for 13 hours. The 2006 Jwaideh prison riot was synchronized with riots in two other Jordanian prisons, displaying the organizational capability of Jordan’s prisoner population. The simultaneous riots were scheduled to coincide with the isolation of two suspects in the assassination of US diplomat Lawrence Foley prior to their scheduled execution. The nature of the riots led Jordan’s General Intelligence Department (GID) to launch an investigation into how mobile phones leaked into the prison population.
The 2006 Jwaideh riot was followed promptly by the Qafqafa prison riot on April 13, 2006, in which security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to free police officers taken hostage by militants. The UN’s Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International linked the riots to prisoner abuse. The Jordanian government, however, issued a written response fervently denying their accusations saying, “It is common for prisoners to make false allegations about torture in a pathetic attempt to evade punishment and to influence the court.”
Prison Security Reform
Al-Qaeda-linked prisoners are dispersed throughout Jordan’s ten prisons. Prisons, however, are overcrowded, leaving insufficient solitary confinement facilities to segregate militants from the general population. Militants have, therefore, mixed with and recruited from among Jordan’s non-militant prisoners. In similar fashion to the US prison gang population, al-Qaeda-linked prisoners built effective recruitment and training networks in Jordan’s prisons that feed into and coordinate with international jihadist cells.
The government recently passed a reform calling for the segregation of prisoners according to their conviction, length of sentence, if they had undergone a trial, age, physical build, and whether or not they are a militant. Designed to limit jihadists’ ability to recruit from among the prison population, militants realized the risk the measure posed to recruitment capabilities and on April 14-15, 2008 rioted in protest.
On the other hand, groups like the UN Human Rights Council argue that the militants’ recruitment capabilities would be more successfully inhibited if the GID cracked down on prison torture. The human rights advocate organization argues that imprisonment without trial and torture turn prisoners against the government, making them more susceptible to recruitment.
A Look Forward
Though international human rights organizations are at odds with the Jordanian government’s alleged use of torture techniques in prisoner interrogations, the government is unlikely to reform its practices as a result. Precariously situated between Iraq, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, Jordan is faced with the arduous task of policing the flow of jihadists across its borders and among its large refugee population. For the Jordanian GID, this means it must pursue any means necessary to extract information from its prisoner population.
Segregating militant prisoners from the general prison population, however, may prove effective. It should limit militant recruitment and training capabilities, at least in the long run. It will be difficult, however, to distinguish between militants and non-militants, particularly with regard to new recruits. Therefore, more prison riots in Jordan are anticipated in the mid-term as the government implements its segregation program and seeks to disrupt inter-prison communication networks.
