Islamic extremism in Brixton Prison: the curious case of the banned chaplain
by Archbishop Cranmer:
It will come as no surprise to learn that the prisoner population in the UK is suffering immensely during the Covid lockdown. As if they weren’t cut off and isolated sufficiently before the virus, many now find themselves locked up in their tiny cells for 23.5 hours a day. They have a bed, a desk, a chair, a toilet, and a mind-numbing stream of daytime TV for intellectual stimulation. No wonder a fifth of male prisoners have attempted suicide, and prisoners are 3.7 times more likely to take their own lives than the average person.
A new report from the Centre for Social Justice highlights the dire conditions in UK prisons, and the desperation many prisoners feel after being totally disconnected from their partners, children and loved ones. There is a facility for video calling, but prisoners are limited to just one 30-minute call per month.
The Report tells us that prisoner education has all but stopped, with teachers banned from visiting prisons that are locked down. There is no online learning due to the paucity (or complete absence) of internet provision. It is one thing to prevent prisoners’ potential internet abuse, but quite another to deny them access to their families and education: “20-30% of prisoners have a learning disability in some form, 47% have no qualifications, and three fifths leave custody with no identifiable educational improvement. Recidivism is huge, costing the taxpayer an estimated £18.1 billion per year.”
Describing the isolation experienced by many prisoners, one partner said: “My three-year-old grandson hasn’t seen his dad for 11 weeks and yesterday he said, ‘Daddy has gone now.’ The impact on the children and the parents is heart-breaking.” One prisoner told interviewers: “If I don’t see my family I will lose them, if I lose them what have I got left?”
The work of prison chaplains has rarely been more crucial or more appreciated by the abandoned, the lonely, the forsaken and the unlovely.
See also: Christian prison chaplain who revealed his Bible meetings were hijacked by Islamic extremists is taking legal action after being punished for whistleblowing, by Ian Gallagher, Mail on Sunday
‘They knew Muslim gangs were working in the prison – someone had to speak out’, from Christian Concern
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