Rehab vs radicalisation: how to stop Islamists spreading their poison on the prison estate

Apr 29, 2022 by Jill

by Rakib Ehsan, CapX:

By announcing the raft of measures to tackle Islamist radicalisation in the prison system, the UK government is stepping up its focus on bread-and-butter matters of governance and security.

In a new drive to tackle extremism in British prisons, Justice Secretary and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab has declared that the government plans to upscale the separation of particularly dangerous and influential terrorists into specialist units in order to ‘thwart the spread of their poisonous ideology’.

As part of the measures, a new £1.2m team will be tasked with the rapid identification of ‘high-radicalising’ terrorists, in order for them to be relocated in one of the three Prison Service’s ‘Separation Centres’ – at HMP Frankland in Durham, Full Sutton near York and Woodhill in Milton Keynes. Another £6million will be invested to expand ‘Close Supervision Centres’, where the most physically violent offenders can be held – including those convicted of terror-related offences. This will be designed to prevent their potential recruitment to extremist causes.

Numerous reports into radicalisation in UK prisons paint a thoroughly disturbing picture when it comes to matters of authority, control and influence within our penal system. Islamist extremists dominate the pool of prisoners convicted of terror-related offences, and a report by the terrorism watchdog has advanced the view that they have essentially gained control of entire prison wings. There are stories of prisoners carrying out Sharia-inspired proceedings, dictating the dietary and washing habits of non-Muslim inmates, and imposing conditions on prison staff in relation to Friday prayers. Jonathan Hall QC, the Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said he had been informed that prison officers had even resorted to appealing to the wing ’emir’ – who often undermined the authority of prison imams – to help maintain order among inmates.

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