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Prisons failing to tackle terror recruitment

Officers call for policy to stop al-Qaida radicalising ethnic minorities in jails

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Monday October 2, 2006
The Guardian

The prison service has no strategy to tackle al-Qaida operatives radicalising and recruiting young African-Caribbean and other ethnic minority prisoners in British jails, according to prison officers.
Britain now houses more suspected terrorist prisoners - the number is in the high hundreds - than any other European country, with many housed on normal wings alongside ordinary offenders.

The Prison Officers' Association says some of these terrorist prisoners are targeting for radicalisation and recruitment other alienated ethnic minority groups, as well as the smaller number of younger Muslim prisoners, and they are providing "rich pickings". Many of those held, whom they describe as "dangerous and highly capable", are "high up" in groups using the al-Qaida name and their lives have been dedicated to radicalising younger and more vulnerable people.

But senior prison managers have admitted in official correspondence that despite being aware of the problem they are waiting for a recently formed extremist prisoner working group to report before they do anything about it.

The POA has warned the government that urgent steps need to be taken to prevent the more dangerous suspected terrorist prisoners engaging in criminal integration and collusion, as well as their adoption of new radicalising and recruitment techniques.

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