Just Three Per Cent of Jailed Jihadists Are Isolated to Stop Them Radicalising Other Inmates: Report

Just three per cent of the fewer than 200 jihadists serving time for terror-related offences are being isolated from other prisoners to stop them radicalising inmates, a report claims.

The Sun also reports that only one of the three specialist jihadist units set up in British prisons, Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Frankland in Durham, is open. Both centres at HMP Woodhill in Buckinghamshire and HMP Full Sutton in Yorkshire have been closed.

The Frankland jihadist unit is home to Michael Adebolajo, who with Michael Adebowale beheaded Fusilier Lee Rigby near Woolwich Barracks, London, in 2014. A 2017 report revealed that before the unit was complete, Adebolajo had already corrupted dozens of fellow inmates with radical Islamist ideology, some whom swore allegiance to Islamic State and pledged to commit acts of terror on their release.

Sources told the tabloid that the fact that radical terrorists mix with other criminal inmates poses “a real and serious threat”.

Last week, Khairi Saadallah received a whole life sentence for stabbing three men to death and injuring three others during a terror attack at a Reading park last summer.

The court heard that the 26-year-old Libyan, who already had a long criminal history in the UK, had befriended the “prominent radical preacher” and Muslim convert Omar Brooks — a member of Anjem Choudary‘s banned al-Muhajiroun — while serving time for a non-terror-related crime at HMP Bullingdon. The pair were seen attending Friday prayers and going to the gym together.

The sentencing judge also heard that Saadallah, a failed asylum seeker, had avoided being deported for seven years before committing the attack, because of the UK government’s commitment to not sending criminals back to unstable countries. Instead, the migrant was given temporary leave to remain until 2023.

In November, analysis from the Henry Jackson Society revealed that in the past 20 years, the government has failed to deport 45 terrorists after they were released from prison. Amongst them were those who pledged allegiance to Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and al-Shabaab.

That same month, it was revealed that over 100 convicted terrorists were due for early release from prison. One of those is Britain’s youngest convicted terrorist, known only as RXG, who at 14 was found guilty of plotting to behead an Australian policeman. Sentenced to ‘life’ in prison in 2015, after serving barely five years, the parole board authorised this month the release of the terrorist, who now at 20, can enjoy life-long anonymity.