US prison agency fails to monitor high-risk mail

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) High-risk US inmates have used the prison mail system to promote terrorism and other criminal activity because all their mail has not been read or properly translated, the Justice Department said today.

The department's inspector general criticized the federal Bureau of Prisons for failing to prevent misuse of the mail system, citing deficiencies including the failure to read all the mail of those on its monitoring lists and for a lack of proficient translators.

In a report, the inspector general also said the agency is unable to effectively monitor high-risk inmates' telephone calls, visits with family and friends, and cellblock conversations.

''We found significant problems in the ... efforts to monitor high-risk inmates' mail and other communications,'' Inspector General Glenn Fine said. ''Significant improvements need to be made in these critical areas.'' The issue received widespread attention last year with the disclosure that three people convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing had written more than 90 letters to other terrorism suspects overseas between 2002 and 2004. They were at the agency's highest security prison in Florence, Colorado.

Those who received the letters included the leader of a plot to blow up the National Justice Building in Madrid, Spanish inmates with links to others suspected in the 2004 attacks on Madrid commuter trains and other Islamic radicals in Spain and Morocco.

The inspector general's review, which was prompted by reports of those letters, also found the agency does not have sufficient staff trained in intelligence techniques to analyze whether the communications contain suspicious content.

When staff members in Florence learned of the correspondence with Islamic extremist inmates in Spanish prisons, they failed to notify the FBI because they did not understand the implications for the furthering of terrorist activity, according to the report.

It said the Justice department lacks a policy requiring that all inmates arrested for international terrorism-related crimes be reviewed to decide if they should be placed under the most restrictive conditions for their communications.

The prisons agency recently hired three full-time language specialists. It also proposed increased staff training, use of electronic tools such as translation software and limiting the volume of mail and other types of communication available for terrorists or other high-risk inmates, the report said.

REUTERS SP KN2205