Failing prisons are a hotbed of extremism
Understaffed and unsafe: why Britain’s dangerous jails are breeding gang violence and terrorism
BRITAIN’S failing jails are so violent and dangerous that they have become a “fertile breeding ground” for future terrorists and street gang leaders, a senior government adviser has warned.
In a 70-page report published today, Ian Acheson, a former prison governor who led a government investigation into extremism in jails, says the state’s control of prisons has broken down, with inexperienced staff struggling to contain record levels of drug abuse, violence and overcrowding.
He warns that the 700 terrorist prisoners already held in jails will soon be joined by foreign fighters imprisoned on their return to the UK, alongside scores of gang members jailed as a result of the surge in street violence.
“Our unsafe prisons provide a fertile breeding ground in which predators, peddling extremist and violent ideologies, can prey upon the vulnerable, creating significant risks to national security and the public at large,” said Mr Acheson. “On the present trajectory, it is all too conceivable that a future terrorist will have been groomed and radicalised within our prison estate.”
His report for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) says it is vital prisoners are held in “an environment that can support exit from, rather than further entrenchment in, a gang and/or violent lifestyle”. The “visible collapse of the state’s authority” means “it has become increasingly difficult – and too often impossible – for prison staff to protect either themselves or their charges”.
Mr Acheson cites data showing a record 34,000 assaults a year, one in eight (13 per cent) inmates developing a drug problem in prison and the loss of 70,000 years of prison officer experience through staff cuts since 2010, only now being reversed.
He has also published shocking video footage, illegally shot on smartphones, showing prisoners being violently assaulted over drugs, brushing their teeth with soiled lavatory brushes and footage of drugs and phones being smuggled into prison. In one video, prisoners who have been stripped naked are held on leashes and made to fight, while in others, from prisons across the country, inmates appear to be so high on drugs that they cannot speak or stand. Most of the videos were posted on Twitter through an anonymous account – since blocked – which encouraged inmates to send their footage to a encrypted messaging account using a Dutch number.
A Ministry of Justice (MOJ) report, obtained through Freedom of Information laws by the CSJ, depicts the decline in the words of officers and prisoners. One warder told the MOJ: “If you honestly asked staff, the vast majority would leave if they could. We are not in control, it’s unsafe.”
Among 60 recommendations, Mr Acheson says the Government should spend up to £2billion on new prisons and recruiting extra staff to restore order and reduce overcrowding. A CSJ poll shows 70 per cent of the public support more prisons, rather than a ban on short sentences.