Dangerous Convictions for PDF - ADL

Inmates with racist tendencies or who harbor anti-government sentiments are
most receptive to the messages of extremist groups. Such weaknesses combine
with loneliness to create a mindset open to radical appeals. “I guess…people
have forgotten how very important mail is to a prisoner,” writes a “racially
conscious” inmate to the Nationalist Times in 2000. “It is especially important
to me because I am the last of my family’s bloodline. All of the rest of
my family has passed away over the years since my incarceration in 1984.”
Inmates who are angry about their incarceration are also vulnerable to ideologies
that provide scapegoats for their situation—ideologies that range from
white supremacist and anti-Semitic rants against the Zionist Occupied
Government to militia conspiracy theories about the New World Order to
anarchist cries to “smash the state.”
R EACHING I N AND T OUCHING S OMEONE
Extremist groups use a number of different
methods to recruit and indoctrinate
inmates. Newsletters and other forms of
written correspondence keep inmates
informed of day-to-day events and provide
a frequently missing connection to the
world outside. That is the lure to prisoners;
the inducement to outside groups to distribute
such literature is that it can be used
to “educate” inmates in desired topics such
as Christian Identity.
Dangerous
Convictions:
AN INTRODUCTION TO EXTREMIST ACTIVITIES IN PRISONS
Many inmates are abandoned by
family or friends once imprisoned;
most are eager for contact
with the outside world. Such
prisoners are often susceptible to
extremists, who may be their only
connection outside of prison.
Some groups publish special periodicals aimed at prisoners. The well-known
neo-Nazi and Christian Identity group Aryan Nations, for instance, published
a magazine for prisoners, The Way. Its pages were filled with articles and artwork
by and for prisoners. Other magazines devote special sections to prisoners.
For some time, the Jubilee regularly printed a “Captive Christians” section,
edited by the “Prison Services Coordinator” for its “prison ministry.”
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