Prison Officers “afraid” of confronting Muslim Terrorist Prisoners

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Comment at end

26th May, 2008

Muslim gangs ‘are taking control of prison’

AN OPEN LETTER TO GORDON BROWN

Dear Mr Brown,

GET A GRIP, Mr Prime Minister

If you wish to regain the respect of the country, and I think you do, please pay serious attention to this.

A REAL cause, and one of “long-term” importance, since that seems to be your focus these days.

If we are unable to discipline such convicted terrorists WITHIN prison, there is NO hope, repeat – NO HOPE, outside of it.

There is not ONE mainstream political party in this country mentioning the growing threat from Islamicists right now. Not one. It is a shameful derogation of duty and the MAIN reason that I, for one, am disenfranchised. I could no more vote for the racist thugs that make up the BNP than I could vote for a ‘Keep Britain Foreigner Free’ party. Yet, I believe we are sleepwalking into a very serious situation.

But, Tony Blair would never have allowed this situation to go unremarked or without action. And that despite the fact that he would have been vilified by the liberal press for it. After a while, you’ll be pleased to hear, Mr Brown, vilification is water off a political duck’s back.

And it’s not only Whitemoor with a third of its prisoners at risk of being further radicalised by the weakness of our prison officers. Belmarsh prison in London and Frankland in Durham are also breeding grounds for these people and their terrorising ways.

CIVIL & HUMAN RIGHTERS ARE WRONG

So why is it happening? Simple. The civil righters have won the arguments, though they should not have done so. We have been cowed into the infantile and incredible belief that it is better to let Al Qaeda prisoners go free via the Human Rights Act than to deport them. If the prison officers confront any such people over their behaviour, they know that they, the prison officers, are more likely to be punished than the perpetrators of violence. Any signs of force or intimidation from a “screw” and there will be several members of the Chakrabarti Tendency through the prison gates in the morning, accusing the guardians of our jails of abusing the human rights of these people.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY SHAMEFUL that we have allowed this situation to become so out of hand.

We should have sufficient confidence in our ability to bend with the wind, and to bend again when the time is right. I DO believe that Mr Blair was right when he said “the rules of the game have changed”. To pretend otherwise for fear of being reactive to threats from fundamentalist murderers is a sign of WEAKNESS not strength.

The remedy – either alter and adjust our responsibilities under the Human Rights Act or quite simply remove it from this country’s statutes. Human rights only apply to those who behave like human beings. Bombers, terrorists, instigators or trainers of terror are less than human, and should be automatically exempted.

Such as these know the law and know how they can abuse it. They are advised by sympathetic and compliant lawyers. They are schooled in it. Regularly.

We are the fools if we believe that in time they will come to appreciate our freedoms and stop abusing them.

We are wrong.

Observer article follows:

Prison officers at one of Britain’s maximum security jails are losing control to Muslim gangs, according to a confidential report obtained by The Observer. An internal review of Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire warns that staff believe a ’serious incident is imminent’ as several wings become dominated by Muslim prisoners.

The report, written by the Prison Service’s Directorate of High Security, says there is an ‘ongoing theme of fear and instability’ among staff at Whitemoor, where just under a third of the 500 prisoners are Muslim.

It claims: ‘There was much talk around the establishment about “the Muslims”. Some staff perceived the situation at Whitemoor had resulted in Muslim prisoners becoming more of a gang than a religious group. The sheer numbers, coupled with a lack of awareness among staff, appeared to be engendering fear and handing control to the prisoners.’ The situation has become so acute that white prisoners are routinely warned about the Muslim gangs by staff on arrival.

The report says that apprehension about Muslim prisoners has potentially damaging consequences and is in danger of ‘leading to hostility and Islamophobia’. It serves to highlight the growing concern about extremist activity in the UK’s jails. The Home Office is concerned that young male prisoners are being radicalised by Muslim gangs and that the prison system is becoming a recruiting ground for al-Qaeda sympathisers. Similar problems have been experienced at Belmarsh prison in London and Frankland in Durham. A number of high-profile al-Qaeda sympathisers at Frankland have been moved as a result of increased tensions within the jail.

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said she was alarmed at the report’s findings. ‘The difficulties of running a high-security prison such as Whitemoor cannot be underestimated, but much of what this internal report uncovers is extremely disturbing,’ she said. ‘It is vital that the problems uncovered at Whitemoor are addressed as a matter of urgency.’

The report was commissioned partly as a response to the deaths of five prisoners at the jail within 12 months. Muslim prisoner support groups have also complained that Muslims are suffering harassment from staff. Recently a number of Whitemoor staff have been suspended on unrelated corruption charges.

The tense stand-off between staff and prisoners is causing problems, the report warns. ‘Staff appeared reluctant to challenge inappropriate behaviour, in particular among BME [black and ethnic minority] prisoners for fear of doing the wrong thing,’ the report states. ‘This was leading to a general feeling of a lack of control and shifting the power dynamic towards prisoners.’ It adds: ‘A wing itself felt particularly unstable with a general lack of confidence among staff.’

The emergence of gang culture in Whitemoor has alarmed some prisoners. The team that compiled the report found that over the Christmas period the segregation unit was full as inmates sought refuge from the gangs over debt problems and drugs.

Henry Bellingham, the Conservatives’ shadow justice minister, who has raised concerns about the running of Whitemoor in parliament, said he welcomed the report. ‘However, I’m very concerned about some of the findings,’ he added. ‘They point to a systematic breakdown in the chain of command. It’s in everyone’s interests that these problems are sorted out soon. Whitemoor holds some of the most dangerous prisoners in the country.’

In recent months the Prison Service has unveiled a series of initiatives to combat extremism in the UK’s jails through the supervision and monitoring of imams and better training for staff. ‘It is vital that prison staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills to ensure they have the confidence to identify and challenge behaviour that is of concern,’ said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice. ‘A programme of work is planned at Whitemoor to increase mutual understanding between staff and prisoners, including a development day for staff on the Muslim faith, focus groups in which staff and ethnic minority prisoners will discuss prison community issues, and diversity events.

‘The prison will continue to work closely with the Prison Service’s Extremism Unit and the police to monitor and assess issues around extremism, and work will be undertaken to examine the management of gangs and terrorist prisoners within the prison.’

So that’s all right then.

Come on – our politicians. YOU have made a rod for your own backs and those of our prison officers.

Sort it out, and do it now, please. Otherwise, I dread to contemplate our future society or its politics.

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Tags: Belmarsh prison, Class Day, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, Frances Crook, Frankland prison jail, Government 20, Henry Bellingham, HMP, Home Office, imams in prisons jails, Islamists Islamicists Islamisation Islam in prison, Letter to Gordon Brown, Ministry of Justice, Muslim gangs in prison, Muslim radicalism in prison, Prison Service Directorate of High Securiy, Prison Service's Extremism Unit, prison staff and warders afraid of confronting prisoner, the Conservatives' shadow justice minister, Tony Blair address to graduate students, Whitemoor prison, Yale