THE GUARDIAN: As the four July 21 bomb plotters started their 40-year minimum sentences this week, a group of police special branch officers - the foot soldiers of the security services - based at Prison Service headquarters were quietly working to ensure that the failed bombers do not inspire a new generation of violent jihadists.
The kingpin or "emir" of the July 21 attacks, Mukhtar Said Ibrahim, had emerged from Feltham young offender institution in September 1998 at the age of 20 having rejected crime in favour of radical Islam, as had Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, before him.
A year ago prison officers voiced concerns that there was no official strategy in place to tackle al-Qaida operatives radicalising and recruiting alienated ethnic minority prisoners as well as young Muslims inside Britain's jails.
But as the number of people awaiting trial for terrorist offences reaches the 100 mark and prison governors contemplate a growing number of convicted prisoners facing long sentences on terror-related charges, the question of preventing radicalisation behind bars is being taken far more seriously. Fear of Islamist recruiting in jails (more)
Mark Alexander
