Poorly trained prison officers are turning Belmarsh Muslims into extremists
Last updated at 08:49am on 15th April 2008
Under fire: Convicted terrorist Abu Qatada is an inmate at Belmarsh where prison officers are ‘insufficiently trained’ to tackle radicalisation
Guards at the prison housing Britain’s most dangerous terror convicts are “insufficiently trained” in how to combat radicalisation without alienating mainstream Muslims.
Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, said staff at Belmarsh did not understand the “complexities” of dealing with the maximum security jail’s 200 Islamic prisoners.
The 900-inmate jail in South-East London holds a number of convicted terrorists - including some housed in a “jail within a jail”.
Inmates at the jail include Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada.
Mrs Owers said: “This group provided a challenge to staff and managers, both in relation to their own approach and behaviour, and the risk that they might influence other disaffected prisoners.
“There was clearly a concern that these minority views should not spread. But conversely there was a real danger that the alienation of Muslim prisoners in general, and the suspicion with which they perceived they were treated, would in fact feed radicalisation.”
Nearly two-thirds of Muslims said they had felt unsafe and the same proportion claimed to have been victimised by staff.
Whereas 70 per cent of non-Muslim prisoners said they could turn for help to a member of staff, this was the case for only 40 per cent of Muslims.
Belmarsh: The prison officers were criticised for not understanding the ‘complexities’ of dealing with the jail’s 200 Islamic prisoners
Mrs Owers said: “These figures are troubling, and suggest a high degree of alienation among these prisoners, and a distrust between them and staff,” said the chief inspector.
“Any intervention by staff risked being interpreted by disaffected Muslims as deliberately provocative, and there were also claims of inappropriate behaviour by them towards female staff.
“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.
“These are very important and difficult issues, which have a resonance far outside Belmarsh.
“The Belmarsh imams were aware of, and sensitive to, their importance, and had the support of prison managers in trying to manage them. 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.
There have claims that parts of Belmarsh prison have become dominated by extremists. Prison officers report that - if an officer confronts a Muslim prisoner - he or she often finds themselves surrounded by five or six other Muslim inmates.
Ministers fear that in Belmarsh and other jails holding extremists, there is a danger of young inmates being turned to extremism.
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: “Prison staff are struggling with the special demands of a Muslim population which has doubled in the last six years.
“We cannot allow prisons to become places where radicalisation takes place.
“Following concerns raised by the Prison Officers’ Association, the Government should publish an assessment of the scale of this problem and their strategy to deal with it.”
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