Exactly. It isn't just about individuals like Moussaui and Youssef. It's about the whole movement. Fanatics like them can continue to plan attacks and recruit followers from within prison. No bars can stop them.
Too many Americans have a naive understanding of prison life. They think the general population is just itching to kill the terrorists (or child molesters and other bad guys). That's fiction.
In real life, Moussaui can write letters, have visitors, arrange for payoffs, and do other things with the potential to create havoc.
Charlie Manson was spared the death penalty when it was overturned in California. From prison, he continued to inspire his fanatical followers. One of them, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford. She escaped from prison in 1987. Although she was recaptured and is eligible for parole. She has never renounced Manson.
Too true. And he will find many people, both inside and out, willing to help him do just that. I am a translator and attended a conference where the Egyptian translator for the nutcase blind sheik was virtually boasting about having helped him when he was in jail in NJ awaiting trial in the WTC bombing. (Fortunately, the translator is now languishing in jail, because he boasted too much and it turned out that the jail had tapes of him getting his orders from the sheik and falsifying his translations to the authorities.)
Moussaoui is going to be a threat as long as he's alive.