UK warns of the influence of extremist groups in prisons

According to an independent investigation investigating the prison service, Britain’s prisons have failed to detect the dangers of extremist “gang-type activities,” and the impact of those groups has been underestimated for far too long by authorities.

According to the seminal report on “Terrorism in Prisons,” for the previous 15 years, groups of convicts have taken an “anti-state Islamist posture” that condones or encourages violence against non-Muslim prisoners, prison staff, and the broader public.

The investigation was launched in the aftermath of a 2019 incident at London Bridge in which Usman Khan, a convicted jihadist who had been released early from prison, killed two people.

According to the research, there was a distinct strand of jail behavior that could be demonstrated by pointing to Khan’s time there. “Much of it is tied to Usman Khan’s role in extremist groups within the prison,” according to the study.

Extremist group conduct has become accepted as part of the prison scene, according to the research, which warned that militants convicted of significant felonies tended to wield power within prison organizations.

According to the research, there is an understandable worry about discriminating against Muslim convicts in general by focusing on a specific “flavour of gang-type conduct.”

It noted a tendency to see Islam as a “no-go zone,” which led to a reluctance to focus on extremist group conduct as well as an overburdening of responsibilities on jail imams.

“The point is to ensure that terrorist-risk behavior…is nipped in the bud, and take action to ensure that extremist groups are not the dominant source of prisoner power and that prisoners do not feel the need to adopt particular pro-terrorist identities in order to fit in,” the review said.

Following the study, Justice Minister Dominic Raab proposed a slew of new measures on Wednesday, including the introduction of “Separation Centers” in prisons to separate “influential and charismatic terrorists” from the general prison population.

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