Prison terrorism: Warnings over failure to stop radicalisationon April 27, 2022 at 1:45 am

The prison service has failed to recognise the dangers Islamist gangs and convicted terrorists pose inside jail, a report warns.

The independent reviewer of terrorist legislation, Jonathan Hall QC, said prisons must not provide opportunities for militants to plan new attacks.

But the service had “lost its role in the national endeavour to reduce the risk of terrorism”.

The Ministry of Justice said it was committed to isolating radicalisers.

More than 200 inmates are in prison after being convicted under terrorism legislation.

A similar number convicted of other offences are considered a terrorist risk.

Mr Hall’s report, Terrorism in Prisons, was commissioned after a recently released prisoner Usman Khan killed Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt at Fishmongers’ Hall, London Bridge, in November 2019.

The impact of Islamist groups in prison had been underappreciated, Mr Hall said.

And the discussion of religion, and Islam in particular, had become a “no-go area” for prison staff.

Rather than tackling Islamist gangs in prisons, staff sometimes use the leaders or “emirs” to help maintain good order, the report says.

Prisoners had even tried to exclude staff from Friday prayers or imposed conditions such as staff removing shoes.

Mr Hall also found prisoners being excluded from kitchens unless they avoided certain foods.

There was no national “dashboard” for highlighting where Islamist gangs were active or on the rise in the prison system, he said.

After an earlier review, the prison service built three separation centres, prisons within prisons where the most influential radicalisers could be kept away from the other inmates.

The three centres, at HMP Frankland, HMP Woodhill and HMP Full Sutton, have 28 places.

But only 15 inmates have ever been in one – partly because of the complicated process of referring prisoners to them and the fear of challenges, after some argued it would breach their right to a private life under the Human Rights Act.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said this was one of the reasons for his proposed Bill of Rights.

“We are making the referral process for separation centres more robust, so we can swiftly stop those with hateful beliefs radicalising and recruiting other prisoners,” he said.

He also wants to increase from 50 to 60 in England and Wales the number of places in close-supervision centres, where the most violent prisoners are held.