A Christian prison chaplain who was suspended from working in Brixton prison (en March 18) and then reinstated in September, was again suspended after his story was published in The Mail on Sunday.
Paul Song had worked at the jail for 19 years. He was reinstated to the South London jail after a year-long investigation cleared him of both calling a prisoner a ‘terrorist’ and acting aggressively towards the imam head chaplain. The imam had said that the material he used in Bible studies was ‘extreme’. The imam is currently himself on leave for another unrelated reason.
Hijacked by extremists
During his widely publicised interview with The Mail on Sunday, Song revealed how his Bible meetings were hijacked by Islamic extremists. He claimed that Muslim prisoners behaved ‘inappropriately’ including disrupting chapel meetings by praising the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby.
He has been suspended while an investigation is held, but claims the governor of Brixton told him that the outcome could mean permanent exclusion. Brixton governor David Bamford said that the new investigation would examine the pastor’s claims about the prisoners.
The investigation will also decide whether Mr Song compromised the privacy or safety of staff or prisoners by speaking to the newspaper without permission.
