Liam Fox – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Fox on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risks of imprisoned extremists returned from terrorist operations overseas (a) radicalising the Muslim prison population and (b) recruiting other prisoners to commit terrorist acts in the UK or overseas.

Jeremy Wright

I am responding to this question as I am the Minister responsible for the prison estate. We are well aware of the risks posed by individuals who return to the UK having gained experience, through training or participation, in terrorism overseas. At the current time clearly those travelling to and from Syria are of particular concern.

The Prison Service works closely with the Police and other Agencies in all areas of Counter Terrorism work; including where individuals are held in custody having returned from overseas. All prisoners are managed according to the risk they pose, taking into consideration all relevant information and intelligence that is identified.

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has long recognised the threat posed by terrorists and extremists, and has considerable experience in managing this threat. The Prison Service will continue to use its well established and effective three-tiered response: to identify behaviour that may indicate extremism, to report it using established intelligence systems, and to manage it through disruption and intervention.