Ex-Prison Officer: 'Islamic Gangs Taking Over UK Jails'

15 March 2016, 12:39 | Updated: 26 August 2016, 08:53

A former prison officer tells James O'Brien that Muslim gangs are bringing UK prisons to crisis point in a thought-provoking call.

Daniel called in to say that during his time in the prison service, he saw the rise in power of Islamic gangs in the jail in which he worked. This came after reports that some of Britain's highest security prisons have been "taken over" by Islamic gangs.

Daniel told James that Muslim prayers for prisoners would always go ahead - even if staff numbers were dangerously low - because of the fear of violence if the prayers were cancelled.

"No matter what happened...they would close down everything else to make sure that went ahead, because they knew what would happen," Daniel told the LBC presenter.

"It would kick off if they didn't," said James.

"Big time," was Daniel's response.

James wanted to know what the difference was between these gangs and "traditional" prison gangs and Daniel gave his thoughts on that too:

"They don't seem to have a care. 

"They're quite young. They seem to be younger and younger now...they wouldn't care about throwing hot water and sugar into someone's face if they disrespect them on the street."

Watch the full call above - including Daniel's fear that someone could get killed by one of these gangs and his call for more training for staff.