Preventing Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Tunisian Prisons and Child Detention Centers and Ensuring Sustainable Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Detainees

Research has shown that prisons can play a negative role with respect to radicalization to violence. A recent study that analyzed the case files of 1,000 Tunisian individuals convicted of terrorism acts between 2011-2015 shows that most of them had been detained for petty crimes and drug use before leaving the country to fight abroad and many had been radicalized while serving time in prison. The dire state of the Tunisian prison system contributes to aggravating this phenomenon. With an overcrowding rate of over 150% percent, cells are often shared by detainees imprisoned for relatively minor crimes or awaiting trial and individuals with more serious charges – including terrorism – thus becoming an ideal environment for extremist recruitment. An additional challenge for the Tunisian prison system is posed by the huge number of Tunisian foreign terrorist fighters returning to their country of origin after having fought in war zones in Libya, Syria, and Iraq. In order to address these issues, Search for Common Ground is implementing a 24-month project targeting Tunisia prisons that aims to prevent engagement with violent ideologies amongst adult and young Tunisian detainees during and after their period of detention through improved rehabilitation and reintegration programming. This will represent the second phase of Search’s 5-year vision to employ an integrated approach to working inside and outside Tunisian detention facilities for the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of both adult and minor detainees, which plays a fundamental role in preventing and countering violent extremism in the country. The long- term impact will be the development of a Tunisian model for the management, rehabilitation, and reintegration of adult and minor detainees into society that respects human rights standards and addresses the drivers leading to the use of violence and the appeal of violent extremism. The activities of this second phase of the project will revolve around the main themes of rehabilitation and reintegration of adult detainees and juveniles in prisons and juvenile detention centers, in respect of international human rights standards, with a particular reference to the management and rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners and returnee foreign fighters in prisons. These themes will be tackled by building the capacity of staff of the Tunisian central prison administration, prison staff, and personnel of juvenile detention centers. In addition, dialogues and workshops will be held to promote engagement and synergies between governmental and non-governmental stakeholders (including business and private enterprises) around issues related to the rehabilitation, reintegration, and socio-economic reinsertion of former detainees. Locally contextualized content will be developed that will support the management, rehabilitation, and reintegration of vulnerable categories of detainees in respect of international human rights standards and practices regarding detainees. Finally, micro-grants will be awarded to support initiatives by civil society organizations, private sector actors, and media in the fields of rehabilitation, reintegration, and socio-economic reinsertion of adult and juvenile detainees.