Taking away all privileges from prisoners like the Manchester bomber means they have ‘nothing to lose’, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warned today.
Charlie Taylor has said it was “eminently sensible” to suspend access to kitchens in close supervision units after an attack on three prison officers allegedly carried out by Hasam Abedi, who helped his brother plan the 2017 attack. But Mr Taylor said: “I think that was a sensible decision from the Secretary of State as we wait for the investigation and see what’s happened in this particular case.
“We don’t yet know all the details of this appalling assault, and we need to wait and see what comes from that investigation, but it seems eminently sensible in the short term to do that.” Asked about the concerns of the families of victims of the Manchester Arena bombing, who say Hashem Abedi should be put in permanent solitary confinement, he said: “Well, you can totally understand people would have that opinion when they’ve had such dreadful losses as those who lost loved ones at the Manchester bombing.”
He went on: “What we see often in high-security prisons is there is some access to cooking facilities, but it should be done in a risk-assessed and sensible way. These are prisoners who are often serving very, very long sentences, who’ve really got nothing to lose.
“And of course, the danger is if you take everything away from those prisoners, actually they have so little to lose that actually it can make their behaviour even worse. So it’s always about security being dynamic and proportionate.” The families of the victims of the Manchester arena bombing have questioned how Abedi had access to any privileges other than those in his cell.
Former prison officer Claire Lewis survived a horrific assault by a lifer in Frankland, and is furious that “nothing had been learned” from her horrendous experience in 2010. Mum-of-two Claire, 50, was forced to sprint 60 yards past some of the most dangerous inmates in the country as raging triple killer Kevan Thakrar pursued her with a blade. He stabbed her in the back in the frenzied attack.
Forced to retire at 35 due to her injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she said: “They need to say no to these people about their prison conditions. Hashem Abedi was transferred after assaulting two staff in Belmarsh.
“He was already serving 55 years, with another three years added for that attack, so had nothing to lose. He is doing it for notoriety and now other prisoners will think they can do the same.”
Kitchen facilities are being suspended in prison ‘separation centres’ as a result of the latest attack. But Claire added: “Prisoners like him should not have access to any cooking facilities. And staff should be wearing stab vests. They banned all glass after the attack on me, but it is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. I cannot believe that 15 years on, these lessons have not been learned.”
Thakrar is serving three life sentences for killing three men with a 1,000-round-a-minute machine gun over a £10,000 drug debt. He was cleared of attempting to murder Claire and Craig, and wounding Neil, after a three-and-a-half week trial in November, 2011.
The Prison Officers Association (POA) said Abedi, 28, brother of bomber Salman Abedi, who died at the scene of the bombing, threw hot cooking oil over the guards before stabbing them with homemade weapons. He was sentenced in 2020 to at least 55 years in prison after being found guilty of 22 counts of murder over the 2017 atrocity.
The attack happened in the separation centre which is often referred to as a “prison within a prison”, usually used to house dangerous prisoners and those deemed a risk of radicalising other inmates.
Segregation centres were introduced in 2017 in an attempt to control and contain prisoners with extreme views. A 2022 inspection report said the Frankland unit was on a narrow corridor with an area for prisoners to cook and prepare food.
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