Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has claimed Britain’s prisons are being “overrun by Islamist gangs”, with self-styled “Muslim Brotherhood” leaders seizing control of wings in high-security facilities – while the prison system protects them rather than officers or the public.
In a hard-hitting social media post this morning, Mr Jenrick warned that extremist networks are expanding their grip on the prison estate, claiming:
“Britain’s prisons are being overrun by Islamist gangs.
Self-styled ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ leaders control wings in many high-security prisons.
And instead of isolating them, the system is protecting them – not officers or the public.”
He cited Levi Bellfield – the convicted murderer of schoolgirl Milly Dowler – and members of grooming gangs as examples of dangerous offenders now “welcomed into Brotherhood prayer groups” and “shielded by gang enforcers”.
“This is the total inversion of right and wrong,” he wrote.
Mr Jenrick accused the legal system of “capturing” prison authorities through endless red tape and “procedural fairness”, allowing extremist inmates to operate with near impunity. He pointed to a recent judicial review – the De Silva ruling – which found it “unlawful” to hold a radicalising prisoner in a Separation Centre because their extremist influence hadn’t been “proven”.
But Mr Jenrick insists these are not courtroom trials – they are operational decisions that should be based on intelligence and risk, not bound by the burdens of proof demanded in criminal proceedings.
“The court forced prison authorities to treat a known propagandist as if his extremism were just a theory,” he said.
“Governors now have to build case files for individual self-styled ‘emirs’, as if they’re on trial again.”
He described a system bogged down by bureaucracy, where “intelligence must be graded, disputes resolved, justifications written” – all while dangerous radicals manipulate the system to expand their control.
“One extremist’s paperwork now outweighs the operational fight against extremism across the prison,” he warned.
According to Mr Jenrick, this legalistic approach is hamstringing prison governors and leaving staff powerless to tackle Islamist networks that are allegedly growing in strength and numbers within the prison estate.
“If we can’t easily keep terrorist influencers apart from mainstream prisoners…
If we can’t separate Islamist enforcers from those they target…
Then we don’t control our prisons. They do.”
Calling for urgent reform, the former immigration minister laid out a series of measures, including:
- Overhauling Rule 46A to make national security the top priority;
- Cutting back judicial interference in operational prison decisions;
- Expanding the use of Separation Centres to isolate radical elements;
- And most critically, protecting prisoners who refuse to submit to extremist influence.
“The public expects the government to act,” he wrote.
“And certainly not hide behind ‘procedural fairness’ while the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ builds an empire inside our prisons.”
“We must reclaim control.”
Mr Jenrick’s comments are likely to ignite fierce debate in Westminster, where concerns over Islamist radicalisation in prisons have been steadily mounting from the Conservative benches. Critics of the current system have long argued that extremist inmates use religious cover to recruit vulnerable prisoners, enforce control through intimidation, and plan future attacks from behind bars.
Mr Jenrick did not provide specific evidence in the thread, but his comments are expected to intensify debate around extremism and prison control.
However, pressure is certainly mounting on the Labour Government to show it is serious about tackling radicalisation within the prison system before it spirals any further out of control.
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