Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the murders of Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones on 29 November 2019, what plans they have to reassess the recommendations of the Review of Islamist extremism in prisons, probation and youth justice led by Ian Acheson, published in August 2016.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Following Ian Acheson’s 2016 review, which included several recommendations, the Department responded to the review and took a number of steps to refresh its approach to the management of terrorist offenders in prison and on probation, for example, this included the establishment of a separation centre and the implementation of enhanced vetting for prison chaplains of all faiths.
In the wake of the London Bridge attack, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service will undertake an internal review of the recommendations made by Ian Acheson in 2016 to look again at any lessons that can be learned. We will work closely with the Home Office (lead department on counter-terrorism policy) and other security agencies.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 30 July (HL17224), which Department was responsible for reaching the decision that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon should be imprisoned in HMP Belmarsh; whether a Minister was involved in that decision; and if so, which.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Judiciary oversee the Courts and Tribunal Services (CTS) in England and Wales and it is their responsibility to hand down sentencing following a successful conviction. Mr Yaxley-Lennon appeared before the Central Criminal Court (CCC) on 12 July 2019, where he was sentenced to 19 week imprisonment for committing contempt of court. It is the responsibility of HMP Belmarsh to serve the CCC in its function as a Core Local Prison and therefore in line with Court Committal Directions Mr Yaxley-Lennon was allocated to HMP Belmarsh.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners there are in HMP Belmarsh; and how many of those are serving sentences for civil offences.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
HMP Belmarsh had a population of 826 on the 31st March 2019. On the same date there were 11 Prisoners at HMP Belmarsh who were serving sentences for Civil Offences, which represents 1.33% of the population.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 4 July (HL16559), what proportion of the prison population of HMP Belmarsh identifies as Muslim; and how this compares to the average of the proportion of prisoners who identify as Muslim in other prisons in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
HMP Belmarsh had a population of 826 on the 31st March 2019. On the same date there were 233 Prisoners at HMP Belmarsh who identified as Muslim, which represents 28.20% of the population.
Available statistics for England and Wales ending 31st March 2019 showed an overall Prison Population of 82,634. Of that Population, a total of 13,008 Prisoners identified as Muslim, which represents 15.74% of the Prison Population.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the process for reaching the decision that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon should be imprisoned in HMP Belmarsh; whether a Minister was responsible for that decision; and if so, who.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
HMP Belmarsh located in South London operates as a Core Local Prison and is responsible for a number of Courts in the area. HMP Belmarsh receives Prisoners from the Central Criminal Court (CCC), Woolwich Crown Court, Bexley Magistrates Court and Greenwich Magistrates Court. As per Court Committal Directions, Mr Yaxley-Lennon, who appeared at the CCC, was allocated to HMP Belmarsh.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safety of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon in prison.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
As per my answer to your previous question, HL8657, we do not comment on individual cases.
The Ministry of Justice confirms that it takes the duty of care very seriously to ensure all prisoners are able to serve their sentences in a safe environment. Each prisoner is risk assessed upon reception into custody and extra measures are put into place to protect prisoners where there are concerns for their welfare.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) Christian, and (2) Muslim, prison chaplains there were in England and Wales in (a) 1989, (b) 1999, (c) 2009, and (d) 2018.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Staffing figures for prison chaplains in public sector prisons from 1989 until 2009 are not available, as figures were not collated centrally during this period.
The table below shows the number of Christian (which includes Anglican, Free Church, Roman Catholic, Orthodox) and Muslim Chaplains (full-time equivalent) employed at public prison establishments by religion of the post from the most recently collated figures.
Date | 31 March 2009 | 31 March 2018 |
Christian | 151 | 157 |
Muslim | 45 | 61 |
The Department does not hold data on the general population.
With regard to the proportion of the prison population who identify as Muslim, we are unable to access data from 1989 and 1999 without incurring disproportionate costs.
The figures for 2009 and 2018 are available and are presented in the table below:
Date | 30 June 2009 | 30 June 2018 |
Total prison population | 83,319 | 82,773 |
Total prisoners recorded as Muslim | 9,932 | 12,894 |
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current size of the (1) general population, and (2) prison population of England and Wales; and what proportion of each of those populations were Muslim in (a) 1989, (b) 1999, (c) 2009, and (d) 2018.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Staffing figures for prison chaplains in public sector prisons from 1989 until 2009 are not available, as figures were not collated centrally during this period.
The table below shows the number of Christian (which includes Anglican, Free Church, Roman Catholic, Orthodox) and Muslim Chaplains (full-time equivalent) employed at public prison establishments by religion of the post from the most recently collated figures.
Date | 31 March 2009 | 31 March 2018 |
Christian | 151 | 157 |
Muslim | 45 | 61 |
The Department does not hold data on the general population.
With regard to the proportion of the prison population who identify as Muslim, we are unable to access data from 1989 and 1999 without incurring disproportionate costs.
The figures for 2009 and 2018 are available and are presented in the table below:
Date | 30 June 2009 | 30 June 2018 |
Total prison population | 83,319 | 82,773 |
Total prisoners recorded as Muslim | 9,932 | 12,894 |
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the level of radicalising influence by Islamist extremists in prisons in England and Wales; and what estimate they have made of the number of prisoners who have been radicalised in the last five years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
We are currently managing around 650 individuals in prison and probation through a counter terrorism specialist case management process, ranging from convicted terrorists to those we have identified as showing signs of extremist views or vulnerabilities. We have around 50% more terrorist related prisoners in prisons in England and Wales than we did three years ago.
The majority of cases are Islamist extremist (approximately 80%). However, there continues to be a significant rise in Right Wing Terrorism (RWT) cases across the country; the number of Right-Wing offenders in custody rose from 4% of the total Terrorism Act (TACT) / TACT-related cohort in 2015 to 14% in 2019.
We do not produce an estimate of the number of offenders who might have been radicalised, nor do we produce a single assessment of the level of radicalising influence by extremists of any ideology. We take the threat of radicalisation and extremism very seriously and this is a key part of our work to improve safety in our prisons. We deal with the risks that individual prisoners present on a case-by-case basis, working closely with law enforcement partners.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementing the actions they set out in their response to Ian Acheson’s Review of Islamist extremism in prisons, probation and youth justice, published on 22 August 2016.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government has delivered against all of the actions it agreed to implement in its response to the Acheson Review. For example, Separation Centres were established to allow greater separation and specialised management of extremists who pose the highest risk to other prisoners. Over 22,000 prison staff, including all new recruits since January 2017, have received enhanced extremism awareness training, covering all forms of ideology. Arrangements are in place to systematically remove extremist literature from prisons, and tightened vetting arrangements for prisoner-facing staff, including the Chaplaincy, are now standard procedure.