Half the penalty: British prisons haven for terrorists

Mouaz Mohammad

During the past few years, British media have accused the UK prisons of being a “haven for terrorists”, especially as they have caused extremists to meet with each other and develop their tendencies in this regard, until it came to competition and division among them to join any of the “ISIS or Al Qaeda” organizations.

The three musketeers

In 2013, three men met in Belmarsh prison, after being convicted of violating laws related to terrorism, and their mixing with others of the same nature contributed to developing their extremist tendencies.

Despite this, The Independent reported that the formation was not the first of its kind, that was established inside British prisons, and plans to carry out terrorist operations.

“Belmarsh” is a prison for the most dangerous criminals in the world, and most of its detainees are terrorists, extremists and gang members, and it is called the British Guantanamo.

Short penalty period

According to Ian Akison, the former director of prisons, the greatest danger lies in those with low criminal records, especially as they spend a short sentence period, during which they interact and deal with others, and influence their ideas.

In an interview published by the British newspaper, The Guardian, in January 2019, he stressed that prisons in the country are overcrowded which makes it difficult for employees to monitor the behavior and behavior of extremists.

From prison to bombing

In March 2017, the British authorities revealed that the bomber of the London attack, in which 5 people were killed and 50 wounded, was named Khaled Masoud, and he spent prison terms before turning into an extremist, which was likely to have been induced while serving his sentence.

On November 30, 2019, the British authorities announced that a knife attacker near the London Bridge had killed two people before the police, Osman Khan, killed him, and had been convicted of terrorist charges, but he was released last year.

The British authorities cut the sentence for those convicted of terrorist crimes by half, which caused new extremists to go out and carry out operations in the country, confirmed by Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, in November 2019, saying: “Reducing the period allows serious violent criminals to get out early from prison. Certainly it is useless.”

It is noteworthy that in 2008 the British government changed the long prison terms laws, and stipulated that those convicted are released after serving half of the sentence automatically, without reviewing the Amnesty Council.

Difficulty of confrontation

Britain recently adopted some prevention programs to combat extremism and terrorism in the country, including preventing mixing with extremist elements in prisons, and placing terrorists in special units to prevent them from persuading others of their ideas.

In August 2019, the British Prime Minister pledged to provide 10,000 more places in prisons, confirming that Sajid Javed, the Minister of Finance, had agreed to spend up to 2.5 billion pounds to complete the matter.