As the four July 21 bomb plotters started their 40-year minimum sentences this week, a group of police special branch officers - the foot soldiers of the security services - based at Prison Service headquarters were quietly working to ensure that the failed bombers do not inspire a new generation of violent jihadists.The kingpin or "emir" of the July 21 attacks, Mukhtar Said Ibrahim, had emerged from Feltham young offender institution in September 1998 at the age of 20 having rejected crime in favour of radical Islam, as had Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, before him.
A year ago prison officers voiced concerns that there was no official strategy in place to tackle al-Qaida operatives radicalising and recruiting alienated ethnic minority prisoners as well as young Muslims inside Britain's jails.
But as the number of people awaiting trial for terrorist offences reaches the 100 mark and prison governors contemplate a growing number of convicted prisoners facing long sentences on terror-related charges, the question of preventing radicalisation behind bars is being taken far more seriously.
Many of the operatives are described as "dangerous and highly capable" individuals who have dedicated their lives to radicalising younger and more vulnerable people in a process known as "talent-scouting". The special branch unit is stepping up its efforts to ensure there is a constant flow of intelligence from inside Britain's high security prisons to MI5 and to the local police in the communities the prisoners remain in contact with. A serious effort is going on to improve their knowledge of the radicalisation of prisoners.
A Prison Service spokesman confirmed that they were working to improve their awareness and understanding of radicalisation: "As numbers of extremists held in prison increase, staff are becoming more alert to the risks of radicalisation. We are never complacent and prison staff are encouraged to identify and report such activities."
Measures include security service vetting checks on the growing number of imams who provide religious and pastoral care in jails. A radical imam played a key role in the experiences of Ibrahim and Reid while they were in Feltham. At the same time the prison authorities are spending thousands of pounds translating all texts, including copies of the Qur'an, from Arabic to English to ensure they do not contain hidden messages. All the 36 imams working in prisons have to speak English and the Prison Service says that they are officially supported to ensure they are confident in confronting concerns about radicalisation.
| The bill for holding the 100 suspects on remand awaiting trial is known to have reached £3m. |
| There are a further 40 who have been convicted of terrorist offences between 9/11 and the start of 2007 and another 180 serving sentences for terrorist-related offences. |
The new justice secretary, Jack Straw, who visited Belmarsh this week, said that whatever happened with the overcrowding crisis the high security prisons in England would be able to "cope fully and adequately" with all terrorist suspects. At Belmarsh, Mr Straw toured the "prison within a prison" special secure unit, which currently holds 33 inmates, most awaiting trial, and seven recently convicted of terrorist offences.
Most of those convicted are in top security "dispersal" jails at Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Frankland, near Durham, Full Sutton, near York, and Long Lartin in Worcestershire. The radical preacher Abu Hamza is believed to have recently been moved to Long Lartin.
Although some of those convicted are in special units, many are held on normal category A wings alongside other inmates within the high security jails. The Home Office has always preferred to disperse its top security prisoners, for whom escape should be impossible.