Fury as ministers refuse to ban Friday prayers in jail ‘which terrorists are using to convert fellow lags’
They say isolating hate preachers and terror offenders would give them 'credibility'
PRISON ministers have rejected calls for Friday prayers to be carried out in cells despite fears prisoners are being radicalised by extremists.
Former prison governor Ian Acheson wrote a worrying report which said terrorists have been able to spread their hate-filled messages at group gatherings for far too long.
General secretary of the Prison Officers Association Steve Gillan backed the report calling for Friday prayers to be carried out in individual cells rather than communally.
He said: "Friday prayers are putting immense pressure on the already pressed prison service. In France and Germany they do Friday prayers from their cells.
"This report says we should do the same and there is no reason for the Government not to accept this recommendation."
But the proposal has been rejected by officials who fear the new rules would prove too disruptive.
Officials were also worried the ban might even result in MORE extremism, reports .
The Ministry of Justice has also rejected other suggestions including the appointment of an adviser on counter-terrorism in prisons and a review of the correspondence between prisoners and their lawyers.
The MoJ told the newspaper: "We will ensure that governors use their existing powers to remove prisoners from corporate worship where they are behaving subversively or promoting beliefs that run counter to fundamental British values.
"We do not, however, believe it is the right course of action at present to alter the provision of worship more generally or to pursue in-cell alternatives."
Related Stories
One prison source told the Times: "There would be enormous political fallout as well as risks to the stability of prisons if Friday prayers were banned.
"It would become an issue of us attacking religion, whatever faith was involved."
The report comes as ministers warned that locking up extremist prisoners in special 'jihadi wings' will be akin to opening up a British Guantanamo Bay.
Isolating hate preachers and Islamist terror offenders in jails would also give them 'credibility', according to Mr Gillan.
It is understood that hate preacher Anjem Choudary will be held in the first special isolation wing for Muslim extremists at top-security HMP Frankland in Durham.
Choudary, 49, was convicted of terror offences last week.
The firebrand cleric, who was found guilty of supporting Islamic State (ISIS), will be sentenced next month.
HMP Frankland has been chosen because it has plenty of experience of dealing with extremists.