SERA Preventing radicalisation in prisons -

P a g e | 8 ERASMUS+ N° 580247-EPP-1-2016-1-FR-EPPKA3-IPI-SOC-IN Other variables that also proved to have some form of impact were : 1. becoming aware that the war is not the answer to your problems; 2. becoming aware of the trauma of victims of terrorist attacks, even through hearing them speak; 3. becoming aware of your own problems, through increasing self-awareness and self- empowerment; 4. becoming knowledgeable and gaining skills that would facilitate employment after release (Kruglanski, Gelfand, Belanger, Gunaratna and Hettiarachchi, 2014; Dugas and Kruglanski, 2014). The staff in charge of the programmes also needed to be very knowledgeable about different creeds, such as Islam, as well as having a positive attitude towards prisoners – being genuine and respecting towards everyone and all creeds. Looking at the policy the government of Sri Lanka adopted could give some ideas of what items should be adopted in programmes related to prisoner rehabilitation (Hettiarachchi, 2014) : Some elements are: 1. Those who remain committed to their cause, must be separated from the other prisoners, or the rehabilitative efforts would be undermined ; 2. The words radicalised, prisoner, terrorist, extremist and so on were eliminated from the prison vocabulary. Rather the term “beneficiaries” was used. This was thought to increase the sense of belonging and give a better self-image to the prisoners. 3. Individual development and meaning was seen as an integral part of the programme, therefore prisoners were encouraged to attend sessions of spiritual insight and development such as meditation. 4. Training programmes, were used to develop skills, which would be useful for prisoners’ re-integration into society once released from prison. These programmes were seen as being successful. Mass release of prisoners took place in Sri Lanka after they attended such programmes. REINTEGRATION OF OFFENDERS The major preoccupation in any prison rehabilitation programme is the recurring of crimes. Recidivism and the return of foreign fighters is an issue that had cropped up in recent years, attracting attention to rehabilitation programmes for the reintegration of violent extreme offenders. As mentioned previously post-release research on probation programmes for ex- prisoners is very limited (Marsden, 2015). One exception is Schuurman and Bakker (2016), who evaluated a Dutch reintegration programme, for offenders involved in terrorism and who were now under probation or parole. The participants of the “project adhered to an extremist interpretation of Islam commonly designated as Salafi-Jihadism.” Evaluation was done between 2013 and 2014, through a number of interviews with staff.