France Prisons a New Breeding Ground for Homegrown Jihadists

France has launched a new program with the hope of combatting the radicalization of prison inmates.

The French government fears that prisons are the new breeding ground for homegrown jihadi terrorists who are dedicated to terror.

France hopes to stop the radicalization of inmates by implementing segregated prison units for violent or potentially violent jihadist extremists.

Many of the detainees have travelled to Syria or operated jihadi websites. They are considered dangerous but salvageable from the jihadi ideology.

The inmates in the anti-radicalization units are supervised by more guards, receive special education and visits from psychologists. The prisoners are encouraged to engage in political discussions, attend theatre workshops, learn new languages, and debate with experts against the jihadist ideology.

Inmates who refuse to participate in the de-radicalization process are expelled from the program.

Officials are already testing the program at a prison in Osny and Fleury-Mérogis for the past few weeks.

The program is implemented as French officials feel more  pressured to enforce more hardline security measures against terrorism.

Last month the French newspaper Le Fiagro reported France's Interior Ministry had identified 8,250 "radicalized" French people.

The report also said this number is a 100 percent increase since March of 2015. The number of indoctrinated jihadist prisoners is growing at a disturbing rate in France's prisons.

Often, radicals groom their fellow inmates in the jihadist ideology resulting in more prisoners becoming radicalized behind bars.

French officials are hopeful the programs will be successful first steps toward combatting the dangerous trend of prison radicalization.