TerroristsNumber of terrorists in U.K. jails peaks

Published 26 September 2016

The number of terrorist held prisoner in British jails 152 — fifty higher than five years ago, according to the latest set of quarterly reports from the Home Office. The reported record number of terrorist prisoners come one month after the Acheson review, which said that past complacency had allowed Islamic extremism to flourish in British jails, and two weeks after the government has launched a new initiative to build specialized high-security units in jails to separate the most subversive inmates from the general jail population.

The number of terrorist held prisoner in British jails 152 — fifty higher than five years ago, according to the latest set of quarterly reports from the Home Office.

The reported record number of terrorist prisoners come one month after the Acheson review, which said that past complacency had allowed Islamic extremism to flourish in British jails, and two weeks after the government has launched a new initiative to build specialized high-security units in jails to separate the most subversive inmates from the general jail population.

The Home Office figures show that b125 of the 152 prisoners, or 84 percent, have been convicted of terrorism or terrorism-related offenses. The other twenty-seven prisoners are in custody awaiting trial.

Thirteen prisoners are in jail for domestic terrorism (or “domestic extremism” or “separatism,” in the language of the Home Office) offenses, such as Irish republicanism.

The Home Office note that in March 2015 there were seventy domestic extremists in British jails.

While the number of terrorists in jail has increased, the first six months of 2016 show that terrorism-related arrests fell by a third — from 330 to 222, a level similar to that before the 2015 spike.

The Crown Prosecution Service counter-terrorism division reported the completion of sixty-two terrorist trials from June 2015 to June 2016, of which fifty-four resulted in a conviction.

What is more, more people were given longer sentences for terrorism-related offenses, with the number given a life sentence rising from one to seven. Those sentenced to between four and ten years in jail rose from nine to twenty-one.

The Metropolitan police said its officers stopped and searched under counterterror powers (“section 43”) rose 26 percent, to 552, of which 12 percent led to an arrest. This is half the level of 1,154 section 43 anti-terror stop and searches the Met carried in 2010-11, but with a far lower arrest rate.

The number of people stopped and searched at airports and border ports on their way in and out of the country fell by 23 percent from June 2015 to June 2016 to 23,300, under the Terrorism Act 2000. The Home Office notes that the use of these entry port stop-and-search powers has fallen consistently year on year: In 2010-11, 65,684 entry port examinations were carried out.