Muslim gangs tell inmates 'convert or get hurt' and offer 'protection' to new prisoners if they take up Islam
26 April 2023, 21:45 | Updated: 27 April 2023, 00:39
Prison gangs are forcing inmates to convert to Islam with violence, a damning new report has found.
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Prisoners are missing out on "protection" when they end up behind bars if they do not identify as Muslims, it said.
The report into religion in modern Britain found prisoners were coming across Qurans left on their beds and were being told to "convert or get hurt".
Colin Bloom, the report's author, said: "Failure to identify as a Muslim meant that at best the new prisoner would be denied 'protection' from the dominant Muslim gang on that wing, or at worst the new prisoner would be subjected to violence and intimidation from that same gang."
But he also said the Government needed to "redouble" its efforts to "reinforce the distinctions between extremist Islamism and Islam and between Islamist extremists and Muslims".
Mr Bloom, the Government's faith engagement adviser, also warned ministers that attempts to tackle violence against women and girls will be viewed as meaningless unless forced marriage is confronted.
He said in his 159-page report there has been "insufficient action" taken and added: "There is one burning injustice that this Government should not shrink from, which is the issue of forced and coercive marriages.
"Successive governments have rightly spent a lot of time discussing violence against women and girls. Indeed, in recent years the tackling violence against women and girls strategy has been given greater prominence as a priority for government and its agencies to address.
"However, unless government is prepared to really tackle forced and coercive marriage, then its fine words around the tackling violence against women and girls strategy will be seen by many as meaningless.
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"If only one thing is achieved from this report, confronting the pernicious and unlawful practice of forced and coercive marriage once and for all should be the goal."
He said that although forced marriage is a crime, people who could intervene and stop it are reluctant because they are either untrained or possibly afraid of causing offence.
Recently, the Government was considering changing the law so people including teachers who fail to report signs of grooming could face jail, in a bid to push back against those who stay silent for fears of being viewed as racist.
