TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Eighteen years ago the face of John Walker Lindh or the man known as the American Taliban made national news.
Lindh was arrested in Afghanistan for supporting the Taliban after the 9/11 attacks. He pleaded guilty to supporting the Taliban and claimed during his time of sentencing that if he knew of the Taliban what he now knows, he never would have joined. Lindh was released from the Terre Haute Federal Prison today.
Despite his claims against the Taliban, many are still concerned.
Good behavior cut three years off of Lindh’s 20 year sentence. One expert our DC Bureau talked with today says Lindh was the poster child of American terrorists. He was one of the first to be arrested and to be released. But there are more like him that will also soon join society.
The Terre Haute Federal Prison released a statement giving some background information on the release of terrorist suspects. It claims that the prison monitors communications of inmates with ties to foreign terror. That information is shared with law enforcement as appropriate. They also encourage pro-social values to reduce the risk of criminal behavior. The statement goes on to say the BOP identifies new programs and approaches to curb terrorist mindsset.
However Bennett Clifford a research fellow on extremism at George Washington University says the BOP’s timing looking into such programs is a little too late.
“Already people are starting to be released from prison and we’re sort of catching up to the idea of installing programs, a top down strategy for countering recidivism now,” he said.
Clifford says those programs should be implemented during the entire duration of the prison sentence.
He also says that Lindh was the poster child for the first high profile case of American terror and he’s one of the first to be released from prison.
“By 2023, so five years from now there will be about 100 individuals who’ve been convicted for extremist related activities who will be released from the federal prison system.”
Clifford says at any given time there are about 3 to 500 extremist offenders in federal custody and that the resources to curb extremist mindsets aren’t always allocated appropriately.
“There’s not really an architecture in place in the federal prison system to either re-integrate, de-radicalize or rehabilitate terrorist offenders.”
Of the several restrictions John Walker Lindh will face upon prison release is monitorization of his internet use. He’s not allowed to have an internet capable device without consent from his probation office and can only speak in English when talking to others online. Lindh also speaks Arabic.
Clifford says Lindh’s restrictions during his three year probation are severe.
“A lot of these conditions we don’t normally see, so I can’t predict whether it will be successful or not.”
AP reports that President Trump says Lindh will be watched closely and that he asked his lawyers if there was anything they could do to block’s Lindh’s release today, but was told “from a legal standpoint, there’s nothing we’re allowed to do.”
Trump also said Lindh “has not given up his proclamation of terror.” And that “I don’t like it at all.”
