Muslim Prisoners, Radicalization and Rehabilitation in British Prisons

The former Chief Inspector of Prisons in Britain, Dame Anne Owers, raised a number of serious questions about the treatment and safety of Muslim prisoners. In light of these concerns, it is important to examine the role of the potential radicalization of Muslim prisoners in Britain. Indeed, British prisons have become integral institutions that must focus on rehabilitation as well as resettlement programs within Muslim communities in order to successfully change ideology and perception. However, there are problems with many de-radicalization programs in prison as they are viewed with suspicion and are deemed to be used to provide intelligence and unnecessary surveillance upon all Muslim prisoners regardless of the offense they may have committed. The paper examines the risk of radicalization in UK prisons and concludes that prison staff must work on building trust with Muslim prisoners and de-radicalization programs must focus on using religion as a means to tackling the problem of radicalization amongst prisoners. © 2013 Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs