T

he role of prisons has proven to be effective in slowing the spread of the Islamic State (IS) organization'€™s influence among inmates, a study has revealed.

In a report titled Support for Islamic State in Indonesian Prisons, the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) has found that IS has split convicted extremists into two groups; those supporting it and those against it.

IPAC director Sidney Jones said the different stances taken by the inmates were due to guidance given by prison guards.

'€œCorrections officials have had some success in building anti-IS groups in prison and this needs recognition,'€ Jones said in the report.

In the 27-page report released on Monday, IPAC also examines how alliances for and against IS have developed among inmates.

The report examined two prisons located in Nusakambangan, Central Java, namely Pasir Putih Penitentiary, in which Abu Bakar Ba'€™asyir, a leader of Jamaah Anshorul Tauhid (JAT) is now imprisoned, and Kembang Kuning Penitentiary, in which radical Islamic cleric Aman Abdurahman is held.

The two prisons are considered challenging for prison wardens because prominent terror convicts are serving sentences there.

The report said Ba'€™asyir'€™s plan to recruit more IS supporters in Pasir Putih prison had not worked well, as several other convicted terrorists, including Wak Geng and his confidants, were against the organization.

Wak Geng was involved in the August 2010 robbery of CIMB Niaga Bank in Medan, in which some fugitives from a terrorist training camp in Aceh also took part. He was involved with Majelis Mujahiddin Indonesia (MMI).

According to the report, a similar situation occurred in Kembang Kuning prison, where Aman Abdurahman was unable to attract more followers due to his ideas being challenged by Toni Togar, a convicted terrorist from Medan.

Toni was arrested on July 11, 2003 for various actions, ranging from orchestrating a church bombing in Pekanbaru in 2000 to raising funds for the 2003 JW Marriott bombing.

However, Jones acknowledged that prison officials also faced new problems.

First, each time new inmates arrived, the dynamics of the prisons changed. Second, inmates'€™ behavior in prison was not necessarily a guide to what happened after they were released.

'€œIS supporters are a minority among terrorism convicts in Indonesian prisons ['€¦] the support for IS in Indonesian prisons appeared to be falling, not rising, as the less ideologically committed could be pulled away,'€ Jones said.

The report suggested that simple interventions by prison officials may be able to limit the influence of radical ideologies, assuming that only a majority of those convicted of terrorism in Indonesia support IS openly, while there was nothing to suggest their numbers were increasing.

Terrorism expert Solahudin said the recent IPAC study had revealed a positive development, as prisons were usually hotbeds for new terrorist recruits.

'€œWe received a lot of information that several prisoners became terrorists after they met convicted terrorists in prison,'€ Solahudin told The Jakarta Post.

• New report says prison guards have split terror convicts into those for and against IS
• Prisons with prominent convicts Abu Bakar Ba'€™aysir, Aman Abdurahman are focus of report
• Terror expert hails development as positive