Radicalisation and Violent Extremism in United Kingdom Prisons

Abstract

The mandate of prisons is to provide an enabling environment for the reformation of law breakers, but they are also increasingly doing the exact opposite, deepening, and contributing to the radicalisation of inmates and exposing them to extremist ideologies that ultimately lead them to terrorist activities upon release. Several accounts of convicted terrorists in European countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere point to this paradox. These accounts also call for serious questions on why and how prisons in the UK are sites for recruitment of inmates into radical ideology and violent extremist orientation. This study therefore posed several critical questions: What makes prison radicalisation distinct from other channels of radicalisation? What specific prisons administrative systems in the UK foster radicalisation and violent extremism? Why and how do certain inmates end up embracing radical ideologies in UK prisons while others do not? How is the UK government responding, and how should it respond, to the challenges of radicalisation in its prisons? Finally, how might a more holistic understanding of prison radicalisation in the UK assist in resolving the “upstream” puzzle of tackling global terrorism? Drawing critical insights from prisons in the UK, this study relied on extensive primary and secondary sources of data as well as perspectives from social network and contagion theories to understand and explain the causes, patterns, and trajectories of radicalisation in prisons in the United Kingdom. The study noted that even though the UK government has initiated a couple of legislative measures to combat radical and extremist behaviours within and outside prison estates, and as good as the legislation seems, it is not enough to achieve reformation of offenders, nor is it capable of changing behaviours of radicals. Arguably, a detailed understanding of prison radicalisation in the United Kingdom will assist policymakers to map out ways to curb the recruitment of inmates into extremist and radical activities and invariably help to curb the spread of violent ideology inside the UK prisons and beyond. Overall, combating radical ideas and violent Islamist extremism in prisons will stem the security threat this development poses, not only to the security and social cohesion in the United Kingdom in particular, but also to the global community in general. The study recommended that prisons in the UK and elsewhere should be maximised as environments for educational and human development platforms of inmates. It is argued that if Islamist radicals are leveraging prisons to recruit vulnerable inmates, then the UK government and governments of other nations could do better by leveraging correctional environments to educate inmates for human development purposes and thereby build their psychological and mental capacities against the poisonous ideologies being proliferated by Islamist radicals behind bars.