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TERROR CONVERT: Richard Reid (above, in a courtroom drawing) converted to radical Islam while in prison and was later convicted of trying to blow up a jet in 2001. He was called the Shoe Bomber because he hid an explosive in one of his shoes.
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LONDON - BRITISH jails are becoming fertile ground for the spread of radical Islamist ideology because of the growing numbers of terrorists recently locked up, prison officers and terrorism experts warn.
Officials here admit to anxiety about the situation, which is only likely to get worse with dozens of terror trials pending and the number of terrorist prisoners likely to rise several times from around 120 at present, according to official projections.
'We are working to improve our awareness and understanding of radicalisation,' said one official on customary condition of anonymity. 'As numbers of extremists held in prison increase, staff are becoming more alert to the risks of radicalisation.'
Prison officers say a formal strategy is required to deal with the problem.
The government is believed to be devising some form of policy, though the contents are not yet clear.
Some ideas that have been mooted include mentoring vulnerable Muslim prisoners, proper instruction and screening of prison imams, and better training for prison officers to alert them to tell-tale signs of radicals at work.
'Some of our prisoners have extremely radical views and will use prisons as a breeding ground to try and recruit prisoners who are vulnerable,' said Mr Glyn Travis, a spokesman for the Prison Officers Association.
'We are calling on the government and prison service to look at strategies to deal with extremists to ensure that prisons are safe.'
The case of Richard Reid, the so-called 'shoe bomber' who converted to radical Islam in prison and was thereafter convicted of trying to blow up a transatlantic jet in 2001, serves as an uncomfortable reminder of how negative ideology can be propagated successfully in jails.
Britain's prison population is currently at a record high, well above the capacity level of around 80,000 inmates.
At present, around 120 are convicted terrorists, or prisoners on remand for terror-related offences.
But the figure is growing fast, from practically zero a decade ago, and official projections estimate that it could rise to more than 1,000 in the next decade.
Some countries, such as Turkey, try to get around the problem of radicalisation by keeping all the radicals together.
But this presents a number of problems, experts say.
'It's probably not a good idea to put them all together in one group, because you think of what happened with the IRA prisoners in the Maze prison,' says Professor Andrew Coyle, a former prison governor and founding director of the International Centre for Prison Studies.
'It became in their terms a kind of prisoner-of-war camp and allowed them to dictate the terms.'
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann says concentrating terrorist prisoners in one place would 'create a situation which can easily be exploited - Muslims will say it is a European Guantanamo.
'So that's not a good solution - but letting them mingle with normal prisoners is also problematic.'
Some radical prisoners can be - and indeed are - kept under close supervision in maximum-security units.
But Prof Coyle warns against the temptation to try and keep an eye on too many prisoners.
'One of the big challenges is to keep the numbers (under close supervision) to a minimum so that they can be identified and dealt with appropriately,' he says.
'Frequently the danger is to play safe and identify an excessive number of prisoners and the problem there is that you devalue the coinage.'
Another tactic, Dr Neumann says, involves training prison officers to know when indoctrination is going on.
'This is difficult because there is a fine line between religious instruction and radicalisation,' he says.
But it will help if the government has full confidence in the prison imams who minister to Muslim convicts.
The government has already moved to try and ensure that prison imams are part of the solution, not part of the problem.
'We are looking to support our imams so that they are confident in addressing and confronting concerns around radicalisation,' says a government spokesman.
Dr Neumann says the experience in some Middle Eastern countries might prove instructive. 'They've been going into prisons with imams who teach radical prisoners about Islam as it should be properly understood. That's a very proactive strategy. We are not there yet.'
mark.riceoxley@btinternet.com
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