On Saturday, an awful assault took place at HMP Frankland. According to a statement from the Prison Officers’ Association (the union for frontline jail staff), Hashem Abedi, brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, allegedly committed an unprovoked attack on three prison officers. It seems he ‘threw hot cooking oil’ over them, and then used ‘home made weapons’ to stab them. According to the union, the officers ‘received life threatening injuries, including burns, scalds and stab wounds’. All three officers were rushed to hospital. As of 6 p.m. yesterday evening the Ministry of Justice confirmed that one officer, a woman, has been discharged, and two are still being treated.
The Lord Chancellor tweeted that she is ‘appalled by the attack of three brave officers at HMP Frankland today… I will be pushing for the strongest possible punishment’, while her Tory shadow, Robert Jenrick insisted ‘this must be a turning point’.
This attack should not have happened. Prison officers should not have to face attempts on their life by murderous jihadis. Abedi is serving a 55 year sentence for his key role in the plot to murder children attending an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in 2017. He is held at HMP Frankland, one of the most secure jails in the country, and was housed in one of its ‘separation centres’. These are areas within high security prisons which house the most dangerous terrorist inmates. This is because we recognise that murderous jihadists are not like other prisoners, since, as explained by POA national chair Mark Fairhurst, they continue to pose a profound danger in their willingness to commit further attacks. In fact, Jonathan Hall KC produced a detailed report in 2022, warning of exactly these risks.
But just over a week ago it was reported that Frankland was so full of dangerous jihadists that the jail was using its separation centres to house those few prisoners who did not want to join the Muslim gangs. At the time the Ministry of Justice told me that these claims were ‘completely untrue’. In light of this awful attack a serious review of security and Muslim gang influence at Frankland must take place.
There’s a wider issue of culture and policy. The POA’s Mark Fairhurst said ‘we must now review the freedoms we allow separation centre prisoners to have. I am of the opinion that allowing access to cooking facilities and items that can threaten the lives of staff should be removed immediately.’
Fairhurst is right. Allowing such dangerous men to have access to weapons and the opportunity to harm staff seems unacceptably negligent. We need to take a realistic attitude to these prisoners. They are not like other inmates.
Hashem Abedi was known to MI5 and referred to Prevent years before the Manchester Arena bombing. The state failed his victims then, and it seems it has failed three more victims today.
As Mark Fairhurst said, men like Abedi ‘simply do not wish to alter their ideology’ and ‘we should concentrate on control and containment instead of attempting to appease them. Things have to change’. He’s absolutely correct. We should consider if the most dangerous jihadi terrorist should be held in something like a US ‘Supermax’ jail, where they are not allowed to associate with other prisoners, receive their meals in their cells and do not have the opportunity to assault and maim prison staff. Allowing the current chaos and appeasement makes further attacks seem likely.
Comments