"[Rahimi] has been attempting to radicalize fellow inmates in the Metropolitan Correction Center by, among other things, distributing propaganda and publications issued by terrorist organizations," Acting US Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a letter to US District Judge Richard Berman, as quoted by the CNN.
Defense attorneys for Rahimi have not yet responded to the allegations.
Rahimi was arrested and charged after a pressure cooker bomb exploded in New York's Chelsea neighborhood on September 17 last year. A second similar bomb, which was found a few blocks away, on 27th Street, didn't detonate. Earlier the same day, a pipe bomb exploded near the start of a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
According to the prosecution, Rahimi faces a life sentence in prison.