Vol.:(0123456789) Security Journal https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-019-00192-8 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Training prison staf to recognize inmate radicalisation Petra Vejvodová 1  · Ondřej Kolář 2,3 © Springer Nature Limited 2019 Abstract This article deals with the issue of training prison staf to empower them to recog- nize inmate radicalisation. The issue of the radicalisation of individuals has become relevant in the prison system, but there is still a lack of knowledge and lack of expe- rience by prison staf. The education and training of prison staf in recognizing radicalisation processes are a challenge for prison management, and it needs to be faced to improve the prison staf capabilities. The Radicalisation Awareness Net- work, introduced in 2011, lists the main conditions necessary for quality prevention of radicalisation that leads to violent extremism. Staf training and support is on this list. This article introduces the case study of the Czech Republic, which is testing innovative educational modules and risk assessment tools, both of which support prison staf in recognizing the radicalisation of inmates. Keywords Radicalisation · Prevention · Prison staf · Training · Prison security Introduction Training and education are crucial in any environment and it is even more important for people working with (violent) extremist inmates. For prison staf, the situation as regards the issue of radicalisation in prisons has changed dramatically in recent years. The polarization of society and nativist political discourse are fuelling right- wing extremism and hate crimes against minorities. The migration crisis of 2015 Europe faced in the Czech Republic increased acts of violence against Muslims * Petra Vejvodová vejvodov@fss.muni.cz Ondřej Kolář OKolar@vez.sve.justice.cz 1 Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic 2 Prison Service of the Czech Republic, Prison Světlá nad Sázavou, Czech Republic 3 Department of Security Studies, Faculty of Security Management, The Police Academy of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic