Ex-inmate claims Islamist gangs 'bully' prisoners

A former prisoner has spoken of his time on a wing which he claims was dominated by radical Islamist gangs, who preyed on young inmates and attacked those who refused to join them.

Last week two men were convicted of trying to murder an officer at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire. The Prison Officers' Association has since warned that prison staff guarding extremist offenders are under "constant threat" from inmates.

A prisoner released from HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes, in 2018, spoke to the BBC anonymously and said: "There were a lot of people convicted of terror offences who would get together and sit at tables and talk about the Islamic State.

"They try to bully you into thinking that you need their protection and give you a set of beliefs to follow."

The BBC understands a separation centre has recently opened at HMP Woodhill, which holds influential and radical inmates away from the prison population.

The Ministry of Justice said it had trained officers to "better spot the signs of extremism", increased the number of specialist counter-terrorism staff and where necessary had separated "the most subversive prisoners from the general population".