Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce Islamic extremism in prisons.

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) works closely with a range of partners to tackle extremism of all ideologies in prisons. A HMPPS and Home Office Joint Extremism Unit (JEXU) was established in April 2017 to be the strategic centre for all counter terrorism work in prison and probation and have oversight of delivery across the end-to-end offender management process. Prisoners identified as being of extremist concern, or who have shown signs of being vulnerable to extremism, are managed actively as part of a comprehensive case management process.

Over 19,500 prison staff have received specialist extremism awareness training, to enable them to identify, report and challenge extremist views. In addition, HMPPS employs multi-faith chaplaincy teams in all prisons, whose role it is to provide support, guidance and to challenge inappropriate behaviour. To further help offenders rehabilitate and disengage from extremism and terrorism, JEXU has rolled out a theological intervention programme. A small group of chaplains are receiving specialised training and ongoing support to lead this important capability. Finally, two Separation Centres have been opened for those individuals whose extremist risk cannot be managed effectively in the mainstream prison population, as a safeguarding measure to protect prisoners from terrorist and extremist influences, and to reduce the ongoing risk they present to national security despite their imprisonment.