A Ministry of Justice report* released in 2019 said that Muslim gangs in UK jails are forcing prisoners to convert to Islam with threats and beatings.
The interviews were with 83 male prisoners and 73 staff at three unnamed high-security prisons in England.
Inmates said people were befriended upon arrival, and if they didn’t convert, they would be accused of ‘snitching’ and beatings would follow. Gangs were a well organised menace with: ‘clearly defined roles including leaders, recruiters, enforcers, followers, and foot soldiers. Violence, bullying, and intimidation were prevalent with the gangs, using religion as an excuse to victimise others’.
Jailed terrorists were often gang leaders and prisoners who learned passages of the Koran were ‘promoted’. Inmates were ‘taxed’. One prisoner said: ‘If I said I didn’t want to be a Muslim, I’d need to watch out just in case someone stabbed me.’
Power not faith?
The report continued: ‘For those prisoners whose membership was in response to threats or intimidation, it was generally deemed that they had little knowledge and interest in the faith and would leave as soon as they left prison. A small number wanted to develop a power base and to control the criminal activity in the prison. They were often the orchestrators of prison unrest. To a lesser extent this group was interested in propagating extremist ideologies, although this was seen as secondary to their desire for power.
Some had been convicted of terrorism offences, although their motivations were more gang-related and criminal. Divisions between extremist offenders who were motivated by power and criminality within the prison and those who were motivated purely by an extremist agenda were reported. For some offenders convicted of terrorist offences, gang activity was seen as a distraction.’
