Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle the spread of far-right 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, including ideologies held by far-right offenders. An 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.

The number of far-right offenders in prison and being managed by probation has grown in recent years. Our dedicated, specialist teams manage the risks presented by all terrorists and extremists, including Right Wing Terrorists and far-right offenders, in prison and the community. We are working across Government to review and develop our capability to manage this cohort and safeguard the wider offender population.

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 22,000 prison staff have received specialist extremism awareness training, to enable them to identify, report and challenge extremist views.

HMPPS uses a wide range of interventions as part of its management of extremist offenders in prison. These range from assessment tools, such as the Extremism Risk Guidance 22+ and Extremism Risk Screening, to rehabilitative measures such as the Healthy Identity Intervention, Developing Dialogues, and the Desistance and Disengagement Programme. Interventions play an important role in helping to encourage and facilitate desistance and disengagement from extremism, support reintegration into society, and reduce the risk of further offending. All of these interventions are available to far-right offenders, if required.