Extremist books remained in prison libraries, BBC reports

The BBC has reported that ‘extremist’ books discovered by the Prison Service have remained in jail libraries in England and Wales, despite a review calling for their removal.

Two of the authors of the five books which were found are suspected to have inspired numerous jihadists in the Arab world, while all the books had been identified as part of the Ian Acheson review into extremism in prisons.

The presence of the texts had initially been identified and reported to the Ministry of Justice in November 2015. In his evidence to the Commons Justice Committee, Acheson said the investigation had found ‘numerous examples’ of books that were ‘extremist in nature in prison chaplaincies’.

Acheson warned that the books contained ‘sometimes sectarian, homophobic and incendiary information that was freely available to vulnerable prisoners in many prisons with no obvious control over it’.

The report outlined that the extremist texts posed a significant risk to vulnerable and suggestive prisoners.

The band titles included: The Way of Jihad by Hassan Al-Banna; Milestones by Sayyid Qutb; The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi; Towards Understanding Islam by Syed Abul Ala Maududi; and Fundamentals of Tauheed by Bilal Philips.

Commenting on the news, the Ministry of Justice said: "The justice secretary commissioned the first ever review of Islamist extremism in prisons. As part of this review, these texts were identified as containing extremist material and targeted for removal.

"The new justice secretary will now work closely with the Home Office and other agencies to tackle the important issue of Islamist extremism in prisons."