In April 2022, the government published a report into ‘Terrorism in Prisons’ authored by Jonathan Hall QC, its ‘Independent Reviewer’ of terrorism legislation. Writing from high security prison HMP Belmarsh, KEVAN THAKRAR describes Hall’s report as wholly dishonest, racist and Islamophobic.
Hall says he felt he had to begin looking into the subject following media accounts of events classified as terrorism that featured serving or ex-prisoners, but his motivation is undoubtedly very different. In 2015 Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons (HMIP) was forced to document the disproportionate use of the Close Supervision Centre (CSC) system against Muslim men. HMIP did not call this blatant discrimination out for what it was, as those of us who reported it to them were requesting, but instead asked the CSC Management Committee (CSCMC) to look into the figures and explain them. Before HMIP returned to the CSC two years later, around 20% of the CSC population who were Muslim were removed from the books, being transferred to Secure Hospitals (Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth) under the Mental Health Act or moved to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS)’ own Personality Disorder Units at HMP Frankland and HMP Whitemoor. The few who could not be railroaded in these ways were returned to other prison locations. This was the first time that any such progressive transfer from a CSC had occurred within five years. Although the figures remained disproportionate, HMIP accepted the claim that no discrimination was occurring.
Unsatisfied that the CSC system could no longer be openly used as an unofficial punishment against Muslims, the HMPPS management had to come with a new idea. The CSC had been designed as an experiment to break the spirit of prisoners who prison management had taken a dislike to, through indefinite detention in solitary confinement, after previous oppressive systems had been found to be unlawful. The primary process the CSC had to replace was the Special Security Units (SSUs) which had been used to discriminate against Irish political prisoners for years until exposed in an Amnesty International report. Never blessed with the greatest minds, HMPPS management had the innovative idea to bring back the SSUs, but this time targeting Muslims rather than the Irish, with some fancy rebranding under the title of Separation Centres (SCs).
So rather than fill the CSCs with Muslims, they would all now be sent to an SC, but in order to achieve this, a new Prison Rule would need to be created. The propaganda regarding so-called unmanageable extremists within prisons went into overdrive. This then led to the introduction in 2017 of Prison Rule 46A, which some may think has a striking resemblance to CSC’s Prison Rule 46. From the moment of their creation the SCs have struggled to line up with the hype, with only a handful of guys sent there, as quite simply the ‘Muslim threat’ never really existed in the way it was portrayed.
With Hall’s report all this could change. The already low bar set to qualify for the label of Islamic Extremism through tools such as the widely discredited Prevent programme has been dropped further, to the extent that ALL practising Muslims now fit the criteria. This will undoubtedly lead to further over-policing and harassment, resulting in resistance to the discrimination, which in turn will be cited as evidence of the threat needing to be policed. Contrast this with Hall’s claim to have found no racist or far-right extremism within prisons, despite evidence showing this to be the fastest growing threat in this country with growing numbers of prisoners who belong to far-right groups like Britain First and National Action.
For the past decade the most disruptive and insidious gang operating within prisons has gone by the name ‘Piranhas’. This group was started by some foolish Scousers who thought it would make them look cool, while they sat in the segregation units of high security prisons in isolation for their own protection, after they had been stupidly shouting extreme racist abuse when first placed there. They have been responsible for multiple random attacks on other prisoners, generally of the Islamic faith, including a violent gang rape in HMP Forest Bank which they filmed on a smuggled mobile and uploaded to the internet for all to see. They now control the majority of contraband within most northern prisons and have changed the culture and stability which once existed within long-term prisons. This is all well-known, but for Hall it is apparently more dangerous when someone calls Muslims to pray in line with the obligatory requirements of the religion.
Regardless of these facts, it was the sleight of hand that was most alarming from these press releases fronted by Hall. After setting out his fictional account of how Muslim prisoners should be isolated from the mainstream prison population and falsely blaming ‘human rights’ as the reason the Separation Centres are barely used, if you blinked you would have missed them announcing a 60% increase to CSC capacity to tackle these Muslim prisoners. But wait, the SC is where those deemed to hold extremist views go, not the CSC, so why boost the budget and capacity for the wrong place? Well, it seems that what Hall has been paid to do is scaremonger to excuse the wholly unnecessary growth to the inhumane CSC system, and what better way to do that than wrap the taxpayers’ expense in the words of terrorism.
When I was first detained in the CSC system in 2010, the population was limited to around just 25 men. Since then, although the total prison population has remained around 80,000, the CSC has doubled in capacity, with four extra CSC units being opened to accommodate the increase. It did not need to happen. If anything, the CSC was already too big and with the extra capacity came the extra difficulty for those of us made victims of the process to escape back into mainstream prison population. That will now undoubtedly worsen but the problem here is simple. While operating at maximum capacity there is no space for new CSC referrals, yet the CSCMC refuses to progress those of us already under their management, making this exclusive club one-in, one-out. If the extra 60% capacity courtesy of Hall does turn out to be exclusively Muslim then we will be in an even more discriminatory position than in 2015, as most of those in the CSC will be Muslim again, while the SC, which has to date been solely for Muslim men, also remains operational.
It should be noted that many of the Muslim men who have been held in the CSC and SC have never been convicted of any terrorism-related crime, unlike the National Action fascists, and have never joined any prison gang, unlike the Piranhas.
I suppose for Hall it was easier to target those unlike himself – men who are accepting of others regardless of their skin colour and who turn to Allah for a better life rather than corruption. I understand the fear preventing too many others inside the system from speaking out about his disgrace but what can they do to me? I am already in the CSC.
Kevan Thakrar A4907AE HMP Belmarsh (segregation unit), Western Way, Thamesmead, London SE28 OEB www.justiceforkevan.org
