MP to Discuss Muslim Inmate Fear

May 26, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7419857.stm

An MP is to hold a meeting with officials after a report expressed concerns about Muslim inmates at a high-security jail in his constituency.

A Prison Service review of Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire found the high numbers of Muslim inmates made some staff "anxious and apprehensive".

Malcolm Moss MP said he had spoken to prison staff and morale was "low".

The Prison Service says it will examine how to manage gangs and terrorist prisoners at the jail.

The report, written by the Prison Service's directorate of high security, was obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform under the Freedom of Information Act.

It raised a number of concerns, particularly the increasing power of the large number of Muslim inmates - more than one in four of the 500 prisoners are Muslim.