Inmates in British prisons are converting to Islam because of the ‘perks’ they can receive from Muslim gangs, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warned in a report.
Dame Ann Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, says in the report that up to a third of Muslim prisoners adopted the religion while serving their sentence, in order to win benefits and gain the protection of widespread Muslim gangs inside jails.
Some prisoners believe, the report continues, that they will receive ‘material benefits’ such as more time out of their cell and better food during the fasting month of Ramadan if they become Muslim.
Miss Owers said prison officers need to focus on individual prisoners instead of treating them all alike. She said:
‘Without that there is a real risk of a self-fulfilling prophecy: that the prison experience will create or entrench alienation and disaffection, so that prisons release into the community young men who are more likely to offend, or even embrace extremism.’
Tom Robson, vice-chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, also said that some impressionable prisoners were converting to Islam because they wanted status and protection.
‘What we have got at the moment is an upward trend. It is worrying,’ he said.
It is officially estimated that the Muslim population in British jails has gone from 5% in 1994 to 12% today.
The warning in the report came as a survey found Islam is linked to violent extremism in the minds of most Britons. The YouGov poll also revealed widespread concern about the impact of the faith on British values.
It found that nearly 60 percent of people associate Islam with radical views, and two-thirds believe it encourages the repression of women. Behind Muhammed, the founder of Islam, the person Britons thought best represented Islam was Osama bin Laden.
Dame Anne’s study was based on 85 jail inspection reports and in-depth interviews with 164 Muslim prisoners in eight jails. It follows reports of Muslim inmates seeking to assert their authority on the wings of prisons.
In March 2010, officers at Britain’s high-security Long Lartin Jail have received reports of Muslim inmates forcing younger inmates to convert to Islam, while a Muslim gang has begun to enforce sharia law in the prison. The reports said a similar gang culture is brewing at other high-security prisons in the UK.
(See the CCFON report)