Search for Common Ground (Search) is working in this project aimed at contributing to reducing the risk of violent extremism in custodial and non-custodial settings. The project goal is supported by three objectives as follows:
- Strengthening capacities of detainees, ex-detainees, and prison and related officials in non-violent alternatives to transforming and resolving conflicts;
- Shifting community attitudes towards supporting reintegration of ex-inmates who served time for violent extremist cases; and
- Increased collaboration of prisons stakeholders through the work of an established advisory committee/task force.
Transversally, our intervention will contribute to reducing the risk of further deterioration of prisons due to COVID-19 by delivering emergency support to the ISF prison directors targeting six prisons in North Lebanon.
This goal is informed by three objectives:
- Strengthen the capacity of detainees and ex-detainees and prison staff to identify and use alternatives to violence to solve possible conflicts. A series of activities will be implemented under this objective, including specialized training for the ISF the National Coordination Unit for the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE Unit), and prison staff on the management of VE inmates. In addition, detainees and ex-detainees will receive life skills and vocational training to facilitate their reintegration, and will in parallel participate in dialogue workshops and coaching sessions aiming to support them throughout the reintegration process.
- Shift attitudes of community members to support the reintegration of former detainees. Search will produce a documentary film and three awareness-raising and advocacy campaigns to amplify credible and constructive narratives by highlighting the importance of prison rehabilitation, ex-offender reintegration into society, and alternative narratives to violent extremism. The communication material will be used to mobilize communities to provide a more enabling environment by creating transformative opportunities for relationship-building, community dialogue, and public engagement. Further, a reintegration platform composed of diverse community members will be put together to develop community-led solutions for reintegration. Lastly, Search will support the reintegration of former detainees with pilot initiatives, to be channeled through the reintegration platform, local civil society organizations, and local businesses to support access to employment and training.
- Strengthen collaboration between key prison stakeholders. A task force will be convened to enhance collaboration between key prison stakeholders (including authorities, civil society, and community members) to ensure coordination among existing initiatives. On a bi-monthly basis, the project will convene a task force with diverse stakeholders composed of participants from numerous backgrounds with knowledge of working in the prisons sector, violent extremism (VE), countering violent extremism (CVE), torture, human rights, rehabilitation, and reintegration. The main objective is to develop guidelines and recommendations by taking into consideration best practices and the Lebanese context in parallel that will be later shared with prison stakeholders. Finally, Search will support an exchange visit for selected high-level prison officials to discuss potential alternative models of detention and reintegration for decreasing violent extremism.
Context
Radicalization has no simple cause and effect. However, in general, and in the case of Lebanon continued conflicts with Israel, the war in Syria, regional instability, lack of national reconciliation after the civil war, years of political, social, and economic marginalization and discrimination, governance, and lack of rule of law issues are amongst the most common push and pull factors driving radicalization. In regards to prisons and detention centers, several factors exacerbate the attractiveness of violent ideologies. Prisons and detention centers fall below international standards. Overcrowding is an endemic problem in Lebanese prisons. The official occupancy level of prisons is at 275 percent and detention centers are at 351 percent. Further, detention centers suffer from poor infrastructure, cells are not well ventilated and lit, inmates suffer from unfair treatment, and lack rehabilitation and reintegration services. These conditions have led to regular rioting, especially in Roumieh.2These conditions make the prisons islands of radicalization and recruitment as the prisons fail to play a correctional role. This creates grievances that can easily be exploited by groups or individuals harboring radical ideas offering them an ideal atmosphere for introducing their extreme ideologies and doctrines by playing on certain prisoners’ concerns and feelings to gain their trust, garner their support, and recruit them into their group.
The Approach
Through past initiatives in North Africa, Search has positioned itself as a key player in detainee engagement by its ability to build trust with a diverse set of actors around issues of deradicalization and reintegration. We adapted our learnings from these experiences to the Lebanese context and built on the relationships that we have built with the ISF and the Prison Directorate General to ensure full buy-in from the prison authority systems.
In regards to Search’s experience working in prisons, we have found that the way to effectively address the challenge of violent extremism among detainees is for everyone in the prison system and the wider community to be engaged and work together. This ranges from corrections officers and wardens to detainees and their families, from the police and the judiciary to community members and former inmates. Therefore, it is necessary to tackle this problem by working on three levels: 1) with prison staff and detainees inside prison; 2) with former detainees and the wider community outside of prison; and 3) at the institutional level to address the lack of collaboration between different government agencies, security services, civil society, and community members.
This project was guided by the notion that if prison staff and detainees and ex-detainees increase their non-violent conflict management skills and knowledge if community attitudes toward reintegrating detainees are positively shifted, and if collaboration between key stakeholders in the prison sector is strengthened, then the risk of former detainees’ involvement in violent extremism will be reduced through improved prison conditions and effective reintegration in targeted communities.
Expected Results
- Strengthen the capacity of detainees, ex-detainee, and prison staff to identify and use alternatives to violence;
- Shift the attitude of community members to support the reintegration of former detainees and support in the prevention of violent extremism; and
- Strengthen collaboration between key prison stakeholders (including authorities, civil society, and community members) to improve prisoner rehabilitation and reduce the risk of recidivism.
