OPINION: British prisons are being controlled by Islamists gangs and the Home Secretary must put a stop to it, says Kelvin MacKenzie.
In the old days, for high security prisons to function without constant warfare, Muslim extremists were placed in separation centres.
Unbelievably, the number of Islamist terrorists has grown to the point where the system has been upended with inmates who refuse to join these Muslim gangs (or challenge them) being put into segregation units for their own protection or face violence.
This must stop. There is much public distaste towards two-tier justice, but two-tier prisons are equally bad as it betrays prison officers, the majority of prisoners and the public who will be the victims when these violent islamists come back on to the streets having been given power on the inside.
We should all be grateful to Tony Wyatt, a leading criminal defence barrister, who revealed to The Times the dreadful scenario at high security HMP Frankland in Co Durham. Apparently, the situation is so bad that many inmates are being held in "total lockdown" to keep them safe.
There's only one solution to stopping the Islamist control of our jails - Kelvin MacKenzie
GB News/Getty Images
This is not to be tolerated. Both governors and staff in the prison system – HMP Frankland is not the only jail where Islam is ruling the roost
The way the Islamists work is that they suggest that the lives of a non-Muslim prisoner will be a lot happier and safer if they join their religion.
When, and if they refuse, the death threats and the actual violence begins. The Islamists also turn on the officers pressuring staff. Over time it works.
The extremists sought to dictate the diets, the washing habits of non-Muslims and had even set up Sharia courts which deliver punishments like flogging. The inmates are literally running the asylum and that must end.
The reality is that 18% of our jail population is Muslim. In 2021 census 15% of Greater London was said to be Muslim.
Thanks to Donald Trump we no longer have to bow down every time the word racism is mentioned.
Listen to what Mr Wyatt says; "If the solution was to separate them- and I’m not suggesting it is- you would need entire prisons dedicated to that separation. And not just one prison, multiple prisons. That’s the scale of it."
Some prisoners are living under the most severe security conditions - near-total lockdown, no meaningful education or rehabilitation- not because they pose a threat to others but because the system cannot keep them safe from powerful Islamist gangs.
There is a solution to Islamist control. Literally keep them locked up all day and every day. As things stand they are running our prisons. That is not right.
Thanks to Trump we are, at long last, no longer bowing at the knee every time the word racism is mentioned. That being the case we should take these Muslim gangs head on.
Since, over the years, Islamism is going to be an increasingly worrying force, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper should act now.
And the nation would thank her.
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