Terrorist prisoners will be banned from key roles in religious services – such as leading the call to prayer or delivering sermons – under restrictions designed to prevent inmates being radicalised.
The crackdown aims to stop extremists gaining positions of authority in jail and spreading their ideologies.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary was jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2016 for urging Muslims to support Islamic State.
He was moved to a specialist secure unit after refusing to stop preaching his extreme views while behind bars.
Action will also be taken to stop extremists hiding and distributing their texts.
Collections of books must fit into “two medium size boxes with a maximum weight of 15kg”.
This restriction follows cases where prisoners have gathered hundreds of books in cells, in what is believed to be an attempt to thwart efforts to search for extremist material.
Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said: “These changes, alongside tougher sentences for terrorists who commit crimes behind bars and our work to separate the most radical terrorists, will better protect our staff, other prisoners and the public.”
Source: Read Full Article