Monitoring Imprisoned Terrorists

You'd think this would be as simple as shooting fish in a barrel. Apparently, those doing the job don't seem to have the ability to do their jobs.

Convicted terrorists locked up in U.S. prisons can still use mail and verbal communications to conduct terrorist or criminal activities, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Department of Justice's inspector general.

The inspector general launched a review after a series of NBC News Investigative Unit reports in February and March 2005 revealed that jailed terrorists - even those responsible for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center - were continuing to support jihadists and encourage violence around the world.

"We found that the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) has not effectively monitored the mail of terrorist and other high-risk inmates," concludes the 122-page report.

Oh the findings are precious:

The report's specific findings include:

• The bureau does not read all the mail for terrorist and other high-risk inmates on its mail monitoring lists.
• The bureau does not have enough proficient translators to translate inmate mail written in foreign languages.
• The bureau's procedures for monitoring inmate mail and verbal communications are deficient and limit the ability of staff to detect terrorist and other criminal activities.
• The bureau does not have sufficient staff trained in intelligence techniques to evaluate whether terrorists' communications contain suspicious content.

The report found that when special investigative staff members at Supermax learned of correspondence between its Trade Center bomber inmates and Islamic extremist inmates in Spanish prisons, they did not notify the FBI because "they did not understand the implications of the correspondence for furthering terrorist activity."

Can anyone tell me why the staff of the prison are the ones deciding on notifications? Does this strike anyone else as a completely stupid idea?

The report is here. Corruption Chronicles also blogs on the issue.