Vulnerable Terrorists: The post-9/11 panic about prison radicalization

Ariel’s newest research project grew out of the discovery of a Department of Homeland Security fusion center on Rikers Island, inside the gates of West Facility. In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States underwent massive reorganizations of state power to address the threat of terrorism. While this is a history that has been well delineated in terms of its political, social, and military implications; there has been little attention to its influence on incarceration. After 9/11, there was a flurry of articles with titles such as “Today’s Criminal Will Become Tomorrow’s Islamic Terrorist,” which reflects the moral panic surrounding mass “prison-house conversion to Islam.” It is a history that provides insight into the development and rollout of surveillant technologies and practices that responded to the shift in the understanding of incarcerated people from criminals to racialized, “vulnerable” terrorists. This research has important implications that reach far beyond the gates of prisons and jails, reshaping our daily landscapes.