Katy Nolan/Staff Writer, PNW News Agency
“Convert or get hurt.”
Three words. One terrifying choice.
For a vulnerable man entering the wrong British prison wing, those may be among the first words he hears. The message is not an invitation to examine a faith. It is an ultimatum from men who control protection, access, territory and punishment inside institutions the government is supposed to control.
Britain’s prisons have become incubators for a militant form of Islam that increasingly resembles organized gang rule. The leaders call themselves “emirs.” They surround themselves with enforcers, recruit frightened newcomers, impose religious rules and punish those who resist. What emerges behind the walls is something resembling a miniature caliphate—an alternative authority operating inside the British state.
This is not speculation from an anonymous former prisoner. It is contained in official government reviews.
Jonathan Hall KC, Britain’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, found that Islamist prisoners were exerting “controlling and radicalising influence” over other inmates. His report described recruitment through food, gifts and protection, followed by conversions backed by “implicit or actual violence.” Some groups attempted to segregate wings, control kitchens and showers, intimidate staff and operate unofficial Sharia courts where punishments reportedly included flogging.
A separate government review by Colin Bloom recorded numerous accounts from prison staff of the phrase “convert or get hurt.”
The State Surrendered The Wings
How could this happen inside government-controlled prisons?
Part of the answer is fear. Prison officials were reportedly reluctant to confront Islamist behavior because they did not want to be accused of discriminating against Muslims. Forced conversions could be dismissed as ordinary bullying. Unofficial religious gatherings could be treated as harmless expressions of faith. Even more astonishingly, Hall was told that some officers appealed to a wing “emir” to help maintain order.
That may create temporary calm, but it comes at a devastating price. The prison no longer controls the wing. The gang does.
Islamist power offers inmates a compelling package: protection from enemies, membership in a brotherhood, a new identity and a cause larger than themselves. For men who are lonely, angry, frightened or facing years behind bars, that offer can be enormously attractive. Once inside the group, however, belonging may require obedience—to the emir, to the gang’s rules and eventually to its ideology.
Two notorious terrorists demonstrate where that path can lead. Usman Khan spent years intimidating staff, attempting to convert prisoners and acting as an Islamist leader behind bars. After his release, he murdered Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones at Fishmongers’ Hall in 2019. Sudesh Amman also participated in efforts to convert inmates before being released and stabbing two people in Streatham in 2020.
Britain sent dangerous men into prison and allowed some of them to become more influential, more radical and more capable of recruiting others.
Two Movements, Two Completely Different Messages
The rise of Islamist prison gangs becomes even more revealing when contrasted with Christian prison ministries such as Prison Fellowship.
Both encounter inmates searching for identity, forgiveness and belonging. But what they teach—and what their teaching produces—could hardly be more different.
The Islamist prison gang tells the inmate that power comes through submission to the group. The world is divided between the brotherhood and the unbeliever, the loyal and the disloyal. The prison authorities are enemies. Violence can be justified. Status belongs to the strongest, and protection is offered in exchange for conformity.
Prison Fellowship teaches that every person is created in the image of God, yet every person is accountable for his own choices. Its intensive Prison Fellowship Academy emphasizes responsibility, integrity, productive work, community and restoration. Prisoners are challenged to confront the thinking that led to their crimes, understand the damage inflicted upon victims and begin making different choices.
One movement offers power over others. The other teaches service to others.
One tells prisoners to identify an enemy. The other commands them to love their enemies.
One can use fear to produce outward submission. Christianity calls for voluntary repentance and an inward transformation that only Jesus Christ can accomplish.
Most importantly, the Gospel does not tell a prisoner that his crimes were society’s fault or that violence against unbelievers can restore his honor. It tells him that he is guilty—but not beyond redemption. He must repent, accept responsibility and receive a forgiveness he could never earn. That forgiveness then becomes the foundation for a transformed life.
Prison Fellowship does not promise protection through intimidation. It proclaims freedom even inside a locked cell.
Lessons For America
American prisons face powerful racial, criminal and ideological gangs of many kinds. Nevertheless, the danger of Islamist recruitment is not theoretical.
Kevin James founded the radical Islamic organization Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh inside a California prison and recruited other inmates. Members later plotted attacks against U.S. military facilities, synagogues and Israeli targets. The FBI has previously warned that radical inmates, extremist religious teachers and propaganda can exploit prisoners searching for identity and purpose.
Britain shows what can happen when authorities recognize the problem too late—or become too intimidated to name it.
Every prison contains men and women confronting guilt, anger, loneliness and despair. That spiritual vacuum will not remain empty. Someone will fill it.
Christian prison ministries enter those cells saying that no life is beyond the reach of Christ, no sin is beyond His power to forgive and no prisoner is excused from taking responsibility for what he has done. Islamist prison gangs enter offering brotherhood, protection, grievance and power.
One seeks to transform the prisoner.
The other seeks to recruit him.
