Dispatches - From Jail To Jihad (2008)

From Jail To Jihad
Dispatches investigates the spread of Islamic extremism throughout British prisons and asks if today's prisoners will become tomorrow's terrorists.

Reporter Amil Khan uncovers the radicalisation and recruitment of young prisoners to jihadist Islam. He hears from former prisoners who claim they were taught behind bars that Islam justifies crimes against non-Muslims. Khan hears how those prisoners, on release, are directed to mosques and contacts who further their extremist beliefs.

Former gang members tell Khan that when young prisoners return to the streets and a life of crime they do so with a renewed sense of justification from their new-found religious ideology, an ideology they then spread to their gang members.

Khan meets current prison officers who say they are unable to cope with the problem and examines the prison service's attempts to tackle the problem by employing religious experts to bring prisoners back from the brink. And he follows a team in South London who are trying to 'de-radicalise' youngsters who have been seduced by extremism.