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Radical Muslims 'exploit jail staff to convert prisoners'
Last updated at 18:52pm on 16.04.08
Under fire: Convicted terrorist Abu Qatada is an inmate at Belmarsh where prison officers are 'insufficiently trained' to tackle radicalisation
In a report, Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said that some terror detainees "committed to a radical interpretation of Islam" are trying to pressure other prisoners to convert.
But she warned prison officers at the high-security jail were "insufficiently trained and supported" to combat the threat properly.
The findings will fuel concerns about the danger of radicalisation inside prisons as a growing number of terrorists are convicted and jailed.
In today's report, Ms Owers said Belmarsh, which holds nearly 200 Muslim prisoners, including Abu Hamza, Abu Qatada and other high-profile terror convicts, has improved in recent years but faces an "acute" challenge in combating radicalisation.
Among the difficulties she cited were concerns that extremists inside the jail will influence other "disaffected" inmates.
At the same time, she said there was a separate risk that insensitive actions by prison officers trying to counter the threat of radicalisation would have the "perverse effect" of alienating other Muslims.
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Belmarsh: The prison officers were criticised for not understanding the 'complexities' of dealing with the jail's 200 Islamic prisoners
"Belmarsh held a number of Muslim prisoners on terrorism charges but staff were insufficiently trained and supported to perform the delicate task of countering the risk of radicalisation without alienating Muslims in general," Ms Owers stated.
"Any intervention by staff risked being interpreted, by disaffected Muslims, as deliberately provocative.
"However, the converse was also true: that any conversion to Islam, or any gathering of Muslim prisoners to pray or associate, could be interpreted wrongly by staff as threatening and evidence of radicalisation, with the perverse effect of alienating the great majority of practising Muslims."
Ms Owers said that Muslims expressed more negative views about life inside Belmarsh than other prisoners, with two thirds claiming to be unsafe and a similar proportion claiming to have been victimised by staff.
She warned that such attitudes "suggest a high degree of alienation among these prisoners and a distrust between them and staff" and called for improved training to address the problems.
Her report added: "These are very important and difficult issues. However, it was not apparent that all staff understood the complexities within and around their Muslim population, or were able to establish effective and appropriate relationships with them.
"This is something that requires attention throughout the Prison Service, though it is particularly acute at Belmarsh."
Among the complaints reported by inmates and cited by Ms Owers is one alleged incident in which a prison officer is said to have referred to a prayer mat as a "magic carpet" and another inmate's claim that Muslim groups in the jail were "very bad" and were recruiting young black men to their cause while threatening those who refused to follow them.
More generally, the report praised recent improvements at Belmarsh, including increases in purposeful activity and time out of cells for inmates and better work at resettling offenders after their release.
Reader views (6)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Surely people who find religion in jail are less likely to re-offend: so what is the problem?
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
They should be seen by Muslim chaplins to pull them away from the radical ideas they hold instead of being allowed to radicalise others. These are sick people, I have Muslim friends and presently work in the Emirates, I have seen none of this in the Muslims I deal with. So the choice is simple either they learn their faith as practised by most Muslims who are peaceful and law abiding, or we should just say: we have done all we can, we took you away from the public as you were a threat to the security of our country we did not extradite you because we feared for your safety back home, we kept you in our prisons allowed you to eat and sleep at our expense and yet all you can do in return is radicalise other inmates, well we just have to take your country's word for it when they promise us they will not torture you and extradite you back home. Done!
- W Joseph, London, England
They should be placed in isolation! These radicals should be locked up for 23 hours a day and placed in separate confinement with each other than other prisoners. They can preach all they want with each other as long as they do not have access to other prisoners. After sentences have been fully served they should be stripped of citizenship or residency and deported back to country of origin regardless of these so called "human rights laws" that only favour criminals and illegal immigrants.
- Brandon Thomas, London UK
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