‘Supermax' prisons could house Britain's worst criminals

Telegraph

16-05-2025

Britain's most dangerous prisoners face a US-style 'supermax' prison regime after a string of violent attacks on officers.
Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, has ordered a review into ways of segregating dangerous offenders including Islamist terrorists after an armed attack last month on three officers by the Manchester Arena bomber's brother in HMP Frankland, County Durham.
She has asked Jonathan Hall, KC, the head of the review, to look at the 'human consequences' of segregating prisoners in such a way that it reduces the risk of violence to 'near zero'.
The three options include creating a 'bespoke' regime such as that found at ADX Florence in Colorado, which holds prisoners who are so great a risk that they cannot be housed even in maximum security prisons.
The inmates are confined in single cells with facilities made of poured, reinforced concrete to deter self-harm. And they are under 24-hour supervision, carried out intensively with high staff–inmate ratios.
The move follows calls by the Prison Officers' Association (POA) for supermax jails in the UK. The jails could see offenders allowed out of their cells only while handcuffed to three officers, and provided with a basic food and exercise regime.
Last month Hashem Abedi, 28, who is serving life for 22 murders in the Manchester Arena bomb, attacked three prison officers with two makeshift knives and boiling cooking oil in a special separation unit for Islamist extremists in HMP Frankland. Two suffered life-threatening injuries.
At the weekend, Southport killer Axel Rudakubana allegedly used a kettle to pour boiling water over an officer at HMP Belmarsh in south London where he is currently being held.
This week, The Telegraph revealed a prison officer was slashed across his neck by an inmate wielding an improvised knife at HMP Woodhill, in Milton
Keynes, which houses one of three separation units for extremist or dangerous prisoners.
Ms Mahmood has already ordered a rapid review into whether prison officers should be issued with stab vests to protect them, and a trial to train and equip selected jail staff with Tasers. Access to kitchen facilities in separation centres was suspended after Abedi's attack.
The review by Mr Hall, who is the independent reviewer of terror legislation for the Government, will consider whether the current system of three separation centres is effective, or whether there are additional risks of physical attack or reinforcing extremist beliefs from segregating them in that way.
It reads: 'Are there additional risks of harm associated with the type of prisoner likely to be held in a separation centre, for example, one subject to a long or indeterminate sentence with nothing to lose; or one who may seek to continue a terrorism career within prison.'
Mr Hall will also consider whether there should be greater use of segregation cells within a separation centre or greater use of close supervision centres.
Announcing Mr Hall's appointment, Ms Mahmood said: 'Alongside considering the facts of the incident, the review will look into the operation of Separation Centres and whether they are fit for purpose.
'I have asked for the review to report back promptly, and to leave no stone unturned so we can prevent such an incident ever happening again.'
Steve Gillan, POA general secretary, said: 'Escalating levels of violence are out of control in the prison service in England and Wales. It appears that [the Prison Service] have learned nothing. They continue to ignore the calls from our members on the front line for urgent action to protect Prison Officers from violence.
'It is clear that prison regimes must be reviewed as a matter of urgency. We need action to protect Prison Officers before there is a fatality.' 'My thoughts are with the Prison Officers who have been injured, the POA will offer them our full support.'
Some 10,605 assaults on staff in male and female jails were recorded in 2024, up from 9,204 in 2023 and nearly three times the 3,640 in 2014.