The alienation of Muslim prisoners in one of the country’s high-security jails risks fuelling their radicalisation, the prisons watchdog says today.

Any intervention by staff at Belmarsh jail in southeast London could also be interpreted by disaffected Muslims as an act of provocation, the prisons inspector says in a report.

Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, says that officers are “insufficiently trained” to combat radicalisation. She says that warders at the jail, which holds 914 prisoners, do not understand the “complexities” of the prison’s 198 Muslim inmates.

One inmate quoted in the report alleged: “I’ve had a racist joke made about my prayer mat – an officer called it a ‘magic carpet’ – even the other officers were not happy.”

The prison in Woolwich holds a number of convicted terrorists in a high-security unit – a jail within a jail – and inmates awaiting trial for alleged terrorist offences.

Ms Owers’s report says: “Among Muslim prisoners were those held on terrorism charges, or who subscribed to radical interpretations of Islam. 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.”

In a questionnaire, two thirds of Muslims at the prison say that they have felt unsafe. A similar proportion claim to have been victimised by staff.

Some 70 per cent of nonMuslim prisoners say that they could turn for help to a member of staff; this was the case for only 40 per cent of Muslims.

The report says very few Muslim prisoners feel that the training, education and other support they receive would help them on being released.

Ms Owers says that the figures are troubling because they suggest a high degree of alienation among Muslim prisoners and a distrust between them and staff. The report notes that among the 200 Muslim prisoners are a few awaiting trial for offences linked to terrorism and who are committed to – and influenced by – a radical interpretation of Islam affecting their outlook on all issues. “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,” the report says.

Ms Owers says that the issues she found during an inspection of the jail last October have implications for the rest of the prison system.

She praises excellent work being carried out at the prison by two full-time imams. But she says that it is not apparent that all staff at Belmarsh understand the complexities within and around their Muslim population. “This is something that requires attention throughout the Prison Service, though it is particularly acute at Belmarsh,” she says.

Today’s report says that after a succession of poor inspections there has been considerable change under a new management team headed by Claudia Sturt, the governor, with the quality and quantity of education and work improving. Phil Wheatley, the director-general of the National Offender Management Service, said: “I am pleased that the significant progress at Belmarsh has been recognised by the inspectorate.”

Inside story

519 sentenced prisoners
114 convicted but unsentenced
252 remand prisoners
29 detainees
83 serving life
106 serving less than six months
217 in for violence against person
253 foreign nationals in the prison
£44,500 cost per prisoner per year
£41 million annual budget

Source: Chief Inspector of Prisons annual report

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