Claims of forced conversion to Islam in prisons across England and Wales are stirring fresh controversy in Britain, following reports that Muslim gangs are using pressure and threats against other inmates—particularly white Britons—to force them to convert. The issue isn’t new: official reports in recent years have warned of Islamist elements exerting influence over vulnerable inmates, with one case describing how Qurans were placed on new prisoners’ beds alongside an implicit message that they must convert to Islam or risk being harmed.
The controversy reignited after Nick Timothy, shadow justice secretary for the opposition Conservative Party, called on the Labour government to urgently investigate the claims. According to him, data he obtained shows that one in five Muslim prisoners is a white Briton—a rate four times higher than the equivalent figure in the general population.
“Islamist gangs control many of our prisons. Conversion to Islam is the only way to stay protected from them,” Timothy wrote. “I’ve obtained data showing that one in five Muslim prisoners is white. That’s a rate four times higher than in the general population. This cannot continue.”
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Timothy added that experts have repeatedly warned about what’s happening behind bars. “We know that experts have warned time and again about forced religious conversions inside prisons, driven by Islamic gangs,” he said. “We need to be honest and admit that something here is not right—Labour must urgently investigate and root out the phenomenon of forced conversions in prisons.”
The British Ministry of Justice presents a more qualified picture. In a statement, the ministry said that “in most prisons there is no evidence of gang-based extremism.” At the same time, the ministry noted that prisoners convicted of terrorism offenses are banned from holding positions of authority in communal prayers, including leading the call to prayer, and that authorities are acting against materials that could be used to spread harmful ideologies.
A ministry spokesman emphasized that authorities do not tolerate religious coercion of any kind. “We do not tolerate intimidation, gang activity, or faith-based coercion in our prisons,” he said. According to him, prison staff act quickly against threatening behavior from groups or individuals.
The spokesman added that following a report by Jonathan Hall, the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, an examination was conducted regarding the influence of faith-based gangs. As a result, he said, the Prison Service’s ability to identify extremist organizations at early stages and disrupt their activities through advanced training and intelligence gathering has been improved.
Warnings about the phenomenon have appeared in official documents for years. In a 2022 report Hall published on terrorism in prisons, he wrote that evidence was found that Islamist terrorists were behaving as “self-appointed emirs” and exerting controlling and radicalizing influence over the broader Muslim prison population.
According to the report, the activity included using their own enforcers, recruiting prisoners—especially those considered vulnerable or isolated—through mentoring, distributing food and material gifts, and “conversion backed by implied or actual violence.” The report also described how lower-status prisoners performed tasks such as cleaning cells for these figures.
Another stark testimony appeared in an independent review conducted by Colin Bloom, an adviser to the British government on religious affairs. In a report published in 2023, he wrote that in some cases a new prisoner who did not identify as Muslim could be left without “protection” from the dominant gang in the wing, and in a more severe scenario could be exposed to violence and intimidation from it.
Bloom previously recounted that during the review he was presented with evidence of prisons where large and aggressive Islamist gangs operated. “My review and I were given evidence that Qurans were placed on the beds of new prisoners, with a very clear message: convert to Islam or you’ll be hurt,” he said. According to him, the message was that a person seeking protection inside the prison needed to convert and join the group.
Bloom emphasized at the same time that there are also good Muslim chaplains working in prisons and that there are many examples of positive work. However, according to him, the number of conversions raises questions. He noted that prisons are inherently more religious places compared to society at large, but argued that the scale of conversion to Islam observed in some of them is exceptional to a degree that requires investigation.
According to the data, Muslims make up about 18% of the prison population in England and Wales, while their share of the general population stands at about 6.5%. The gap is used by some critics to demand a broader examination of what’s happening in prisons, but the data alone does not prove that the increase was caused by forced conversions.
Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the American Heritage Foundation, presented a particularly sharp position and argued that this is also a national security risk. “This is an absolutely scandalous situation in the British prison system,” he said. “It also poses a very significant risk to Britain’s national security. It appears the government has lost control of its prisons, which have become jihadist training camps.”
Claims of pressure to convert to Islam in British prisons are not new. As early as 2013, reports emerged in Britain of prisoners who said they were threatened in order to force them to convert, and at that time a prison officers’ union warned of the growing strength and influence of Muslim gangs.
The issue subsequently received attention in several official reviews. A 2019 government report on the separation of extremist prisoners described a growing problem of religious extremism in prisons, including what was defined as “aggressive encouragement to convert to Islam.” The reports by Hall and Bloom later expanded on the mechanisms of control, recruitment, and pressure that can develop behind bars.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Justice emphasizes that there is no basis for determining that the phenomenon characterizes the entire British prison system. Authorities claim that most prisons do not show evidence of gang-based extremism, and that since the warnings were published, measures have been taken to identify such organizations earlier.