Islamic extremists in prisons ‘should be in isolated units’

July 14, 2016

A hardcore of proselytising Islamic jihadis inside prisons in England and Wales are so dangerous they need to be isolated in special units in maximum security prisons, an official review into prison extremism has said.

The justice secretary, Michael Gove, told MPs on Wednesday that he was “extremely sympathetic” to the plan for the high-security “incapacitation” units, which will need the backing of the new home secretary before it can be implemented.

Ian Acheson, the head of the as yet unpublished prison extremism review, said the intelligence was now sufficient to say there was a small hardcore group of jihadi prisoners whose “proselytising behaviour” among the 12,500 Muslim inmates in England and Wales was so dangerous that they should be separated from the rest of the prison population.

He hinted in evidence to the Commons justice select committee that this hardcore of jihadi prisoners is already sometimes managing to engineer “the de facto separation” between Muslims and non-Muslims in some prison wings.

Acheson, a former Home Office official and prison governor, including in Northern Ireland’s Maze prison, said the review team spent more time talking about the concentration of highly dangerous Islamic extremists versus their dispersal than any other issue.

He said the group of hardcore jihadis that need to be separated had not all been convicted of terrorist offences; some had been convicted of criminal offences and had developed into extremists while in custody.

Acheson said they “tested the idea to destruction” over concentration versus dispersal and visited Maghaberry prison’s Roe house, the “prison within a prison” that holds some of Northern Ireland’s most high-profile terrorist prisoners. They visited prisons in the Netherlands, France and Spain where they are also starting to separate their jihadi prisoners to beneficial effect.

lthough some will claim the special units are Britain’s mini-Guantánamos, Acheson said: “It is not about prisons for Muslims or prisons for terrorists. It is a nuanced response that holds out the possibility of redemption.”

Gove told the MPs he was “very sympathetic” to the recommendations Acheson had made but the plan would need the backing of the new home secretary.

The review, which will only be published in a short summary, makes 65 recommendations and is sharply critical of the current approach for dealing with radicalisation inside prisons. Its recommendations include the recruitment of more Muslim prison officers and much better Prevent training for staff. The new Home Secretary is Amber Rudd – hopefully she will disregard that penultimate recommendation. I keep banging on about Millbank Penitentiary but it has distinct possibilities. This is a culture that mandates isolation and seclusion for its women – so why should it not be a salutary experience for the men.