(USA Today) Federal prison officials failed to monitor communications involving at least 28 prisoners linked to domestic and international terrorism, an internal Justice Department investigation concluded.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons requires the communications of all high-risk inmates be tracked, but the Justice Department’s inspector general found that other federal agencies often provided “insufficient” information about the prisoners’ terror connections.
Investigators also concluded that prison officials lack the ability to confirm that communications are being fully monitored, which left “thousands of terrorist inmate communications” only partially covered.
In cases where terror suspects were preparing for trial, prison authorities could not prevent inmates from sharing sensitive information, including photographs, videos and other documents that could be used “to help radicalize other inmates,” the Justice Department inspector general found.
