Jail officers needs to be armed with deadly weapons to crack down on Islamist terrorists in jail, the shadow justice secretary has stated.
Extremely educated groups also needs to be geared up with tasers, stun grenades and baton rounds to sort out harmful criminals in high-security jails, Robert Jenrick stated.
The plan is taken from a collection of suggestions by counter-extremism skilled and former jail governor Ian Acheson.
It additionally follows a number of assaults on jail officers in jails.
In April this 12 months, the Manchester Enviornment bomb plotter, Hashem Abedi, allegedly assaulted jail workers by throwing scorching oil on them after which launching a stabbing assault, injuring three officers.
At Belmarsh jail, Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been accused of throwing boiling water over an officer via the hatch in his cell door earlier this month.
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File pic: PA
Mr Jenrick stated: “Islamist gangs and violent prisoners in our jails are out of control.
It’s a national security emergency, but the government is dithering. If they don’t act soon, there is a very real risk that a prison officer is kidnapped or murdered in the line of duty, or that a terrorist attack is directed from inside prison.”
He stated he commissioned Mr Acheson to conduct a speedy overview into measures the federal government might undertake.
The measures embrace eradicating all radical Islamist imams working in prisons, instantly rolling out high-collar stab vests to frontline officers, and mandating the quarterly launch of knowledge on spiritual conversions in jail and faith-based incidents.
It additionally beneficial legislating to overturn the De Silva ruling to strip again judicial interference in operational choices by governors to isolate extremists.
Mr Jenrick added: “We have to stop pussy-footing around Islamist extremists and violent offenders in jails.
“Which means arming specialist jail officer groups with tasers and stun grenades, in addition to giving them entry to deadly weapons in distinctive circumstances.
“If prison governors can’t easily keep terrorist influencers and radicalising inmates apart from the mainstream prisoners they target, then we don’t control our prisons – they do. We must take back control and restore order by giving officers the powers and protection they need.”
Mr Acheson stated: “Too often what goes wrong behind the walls of our high security jails passes unnoticed, as does the bravery of the men and women in uniform who deal every day with terrorists and other highly dangerous offenders.
“Robert Jenrick is correct – the menace to officer security is now insupportable and have to be met decisively by the federal government.
“The balance inside too many of our prisons has shifted away from control by the state to mere containment and the price is soaring levels of staff assaults and wrecked rehabilitation. Broken officers can’t help fix broken people – or protect the public from violent extremism.”
A Ministry of Justice supply stated: “The government considers the introduction of lethal weapons into prisons would put prison officers at greater risk.”
They added: “The last government added just 500 cells to our prison estate, and left our jails in total crisis. In 14 years, they closed 1,600 cells in the high-security estate, staff assaults soared, and experienced officers left in droves. Now the arsonists are pretending to be firefighters.
“This authorities is cleansing up the mess the final authorities left behind. We’re constructing new prisons, with 2,400 new cells opened since we took workplace. And we take a zero-tolerance method to violence and extremism inside.”
