French authorities decided to isolate inmates with jihadists tendencies from other inmates, or offer therapeutic services or specialized counseling aimed at de-radicalizing Islamic terrorists already in prison.
But officials now say they will not implement these programs because they were an utter failure. They found that the program actually increased the threat of radicalizing inmates into terrorists rather than diminishing it.
In announcing the suspension of the program Justice Minister Jean Jacques Urvoas admitted: “I don’t think we can invent a vaccine against this temptation” (Islamism).”
France, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. have all attempted rehabilitation programs which were all spectacular failures.
“There are [rehabilitation] programs for drug addicts and gang members [in prison]. There is not one [program] with a proven track record of success for terrorism,” US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said earlier this year.
Robert Spencer of the Jihadwatch web site says that “deradicalization” doesn’t work because such programs are based on the premise that the true teachings of Islam are peaceful, and so all that needs to be done is show the jihadis how they’re misunderstanding the Qur’an and overlooking its teachings of peace.
But since the Qur’an and Sunnah are full of commands to make war against and subjugate unbelievers, the idea that Muslims jihadis can be “deradicalized” is just a myth.