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Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Muslim charity accuses prison officers of ‘Islamophobia' after jihadist attack
A Muslim charity has accused prison officers of Islamophobia amid calls for a crackdown on Muslim gangs after the knife attack on staff by a jihadist. Data obtained by Maslaha, a Muslim charity, show that prison officers were more likely to use force against Muslim inmates than other prisoners. The official figures, obtained through Freedom of Information (FOIs) requests, showed that Muslim prisoners in eight of the nine jails with high Muslim populations were more likely to be confronted with batons, made to wear rigid bar handcuffs or deliberately held in a painful position. The research comes amid demands by the Prison Officers' Association (POA) for dangerous Islamist terrorists to be subjected to a tougher 'supermax-style' regime in the wake the violent attack on staff by the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber in the high-security HMP Frankland, Co Durham. Hashem Abedi attacked three prison officers at Frankland with two home made knives and hot oil. He has been moved to HMP Belmarsh in south London to continue to serve his life sentence for his part in 22 murders in the Manchester Arena terror attack. The figures, which include Belmarsh, do not show whether the disproportionate use of force against Muslim prisoners by staff was because of discrimination or because Muslim prisoners were worse behaved than others. Maslaha said that it reflected a 'culture of Islamophobia and racism that runs through the prison system', but the POA maintained officers only used force as a 'last resort' and in a 'proportionate and reasonable' way. In its report, the charity said: 'The common public narrative is that officers are compelled to use force to protect themselves and other people in prison, and that Muslim and other racialised men are more aggressive, dangerous and disruptive than others. 'But if we recognise the above interactions, if we open our eyes to the culture of Islamophobia and racism that runs through the prison system, then we may hear another side to the story. 'One that points to how prisons operate through the everyday management and control of racialised bodies, routines, and practices – especially when those bodies are seen as a 'risk'. And the consequences of challenging that discriminatory regime, showing inevitable frustrations with it, are much more severe.' Mark Fairhurst, the national chairman of the POA, disagreed with that interpretation of the data. 'Staff only use force at the last resort when necessary and when it is used, it is always proportionate and reasonable,' he said. The charity requested data from nine prisons with higher than average Muslim populations. From 2023, the latest year, it covered the use of batons and rigid bar handcuffs, and pain-inducing techniques such as thumb flexion, wrist flexion, inverted wrist hold and 'mandibular angle' – putting pressure on a nerve below the ear. At Belmarsh, a prison often used to hold terrorist suspects, Muslim prisoners made up 32 per cent of the population in 2023. Over the same period, Muslim men were subjected to 43 per cent of incidents involving the use of rigid bar handcuffs and 61 per cent of incidents involving the use of pain-inducing techniques. At HMP Whitemoor, in Cambridgeshire, Muslim prisoners constituted 43 per cent of the prison population, but more than half – 55 per cent – of the use of rigid bar handcuffs and pain-inducing techniques during the year was on Muslim prisoners. At HMP Isis, in south-east London, Muslim prisoners made up 45 per cent of the inmates, but Muslim prisoners were involved in more than 57 per cent of the incidents where batons were drawn, and 56 per cent of incidents of pain-inducing techniques involved Muslim prisoners. At HMP/YOI Feltham B, in south-west London, Muslim prisoners made up 42 per cent of the population. Figures showed that they were subjected to 53 per cent of the uses of rigid bar cuffs, 57 per cent of the instances where batons were drawn, and 64 per cent of pain-inducing techniques. At HMP Woodhill, in Milton Keynes, Muslim prisoners constituted 37 per cent of the population but were subjected to 49 per cent of the uses of rigid bar handcuffs, 63 per cent of instances of batons being drawn, and 64 per cent of incidents using pain-inducing techniques. Only in one of the nine prisons – HMP The Mount in Hertfordshire – was the use of force lower for Muslims compared with the overall population. Ministry of Justice data show there were 15,594 Muslim prisoners in England and Wales in September last year, accounting for 18 per cent of all inmates, despite Muslims comprising only 6.5 per cent of the general population. A Prison Service spokesman said: 'We recognise the use of force in prisons needs greater supervision and have already introduced mechanisms to reduce the disparities in how it is used. Our new race disparity unit will help tackle racial discrimination further.'
Arab News
16-04-2025
- Arab News
Muslim prisoners in England more frequently subjected to force, data shows
LONDON: Muslim prisoners in England are more frequently subjected to painful restraining techniques at the hands of prison staff compared with other inmates, new data shows. In eight out of nine prisons with high Muslim populations, Muslim men are more frequently targeted with batons, made to wear rigid bar handcuffs, or are held in painful positions, according to data obtained by freedom of information requests. Maslaha, a social justice charity, requested the information from the nine prisons, The Guardian reported. It comes amid calls for a crackdown on Muslim gangs in British prisons. The data received by Maslaha covers 2023, the latest full year available. In London's Belmarsh prison, which often holds terrorist suspects, Muslim prisoners made up 32 percent of the population in 2023. However, that year, Muslim men in Belmarsh were subjected to 43 percent of incidents involving the use of rigid bar handcuffs and 61 percent of instances relating to pain-inducing techniques. Similar disparities were recorded in Cambridgeshire's HMP Whitemoor, London's HMP Isis and HMP/YOI Feltham B, as well as HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. Just one of the nine prisons included in the data, HMP The Mount, recorded a use of force against Muslim prisoners lower than for the overall population. Maslaha's director, Raheel Mohammed, said that the disparities 'lay bare the realities of life' for Muslims in British prisons. He added that Muslims were 'being targeted by the use of force, subjected to dangerous, pain-inducing techniques and singled out for deliberately humiliating treatment.' Separate data from the Ministry of Justice, for September last year, showed that there were 15,594 Muslim prisoners in England and Wales. They accounted for 18 percent of all prison inmates. In response to the statistics concerning the use of force, Mark Fairhurst, the national chair of the Prison Officers' Association, said: 'Staff only use force at the last resort when necessary and when it is used, it is always proportionate and reasonable.' Last year, HM Prison & Probation Service launched a national initiative to tackle racial disproportionality in the use of force. It included measuring disparities in treatment between prisoners of different ethnic groups and religions. A Prison Service spokesperson said: 'We recognize the use of force in prisons needs greater supervision and have already introduced mechanisms to reduce the disparities in how it is used. 'Our new race disparity unit will help tackle racial discrimination further.'
