Evaluation of a Pakistan Prison Counter-Radicalisation Program

This project, funded by the US Department of State's Bureau of Counterterrorism, conducted an independent evaluation of the a Pakistan prison program that provides pro bono legal representation to individuals detained for petty criminal offenses with the aim of removing these non-extremist individuals from an environment in which they risk exposure to extremist recruitment. 

An ICCT research team conducted a 10-day visit to Pakistan in 2017, specifically to the Punjab region and to Islamabad. During the visit they met with representatives from Pakistan's National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism (NACTA), the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, the director of Pakistan's Sabaoon Reintegration program for children in the SWAT valley, as well as Punjab's Governor, the head of the prison system, the head of CT police, and the province's chief prosecutor. Additionally, the team visited the prison-based project that was under evaluation and conducted interviews with 36 beneficiaries and roughly 30 staff members. An evaluation report was published in 2018. This found the Justice Welfare Society (JWS) project in Pakistan had particular success in using legal aid to release largely non-violent and non-extremist individuals from prisons and police precincts. It further identified (1) detailed mapping of VE presence in prisons and (2) more comprehensive framework of post-release impact measures as areas of project improvement.