Twelve of Britain’s most dangerous Islamist terrorists will be placed in containment units in three prisons at a cost of about £1m a year.
Anjem Choudary — the country’s most notorious hate preacher, who was convicted last year of supporting Isis — is expected to be among the prisoners placed in the specialist units to prevent them from radicalising other inmates.
Another high-profile extremist to be separated from the general prison population is understood to be Michael Adebolajo, one of the two killers of the British soldier Lee Rigby in 2013. According to intelligence reports, Adebolajo has tried to exploit his notoriety in prison to recruit other Muslim convicts to the jihadist cause.
It is understood the Ministry of Justice expects to set up the containment units — which will be staffed in total by more than 40 officers — at three high-security facilities: Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes, Frankland in Co Durham and Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.
The revelations follow a pledge by the ministry in August that it would introduce units to “allow greater separation and specialised management of extremists who pose the highest risk to other prisoners”.
This followed recommendations by Ian Acheson, a former Home Office counterterrorism official, who was commissioned in 2015 to investigate Islamist extremism in prisons. It is understood that Liz Truss, the justice secretary, has been advised to put the most hardened Islamist prisoners in specialist units in the interests of “safeguarding” and “national security”.
However, prison officials, including imams, have suggested the group of 12 prisoners also be provided with mental health treatment and spiritual guidance to help draw them away from jihadist beliefs.
Acheson urged the government to ensure separated prisoners were offered therapy to assist their rehabilitation: “Any regime, in order to be safe, humane and purposeful, ought to offer those inmates selected for it the possibility of reintegration through addressing their offending behaviour if they were willing.”
A prison intelligence official said there could be other advantages: “One of the side benefits of having a therapeutic regime is that you start to get a better understanding of how these people think and operate.”
There are about 12,500 Muslims in prisons in England and Wales, of whom roughly 130 are serving sentences for terrorist offences. Choudary, jailed for 5½ years, is regarded as one of the most dangerous Islamists in prison.
The ministry refused to be drawn on the details of the scheme but reiterated its commitment to tackling extremism. “Preventing the most dangerous extremists from radicalising other prisoners is essential to the safe running of our prisons and fundamental to public protection.”