Muslim prisoners, including convicted terrorists, are escaping violent attacks by other inmates in a top-security jail by seeking sanctuary in the segregation unit, according to a watchdog report published today.

The disclosure comes after a number of serious incidents at Frankland jail, Co Durham, including an attack on a convicted terrorist and the torching of the cell of a Muslim jailed for murdering a police officer.

Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, also disclosed that under expansion plans Frankland is to become the first top-security prison in England and Wales to hold more than 1,000 offenders.

Ms Owers said that the jail held extremely challenging prisoners, including those with links to gangs, a history of extreme violence and convictions for terrorist crimes.

Her inspection report said: “The small proportion of black and minority ethnic prisoners felt especially unsafe, and Muslim prisoners in particular were seeking sanctuary in the segregation unit; some, but not all, because of the nature of their offence.

“There had been serious incidents of prisoner-on-prisoner violence.”

Muslims have been banned from holding communal prayers in cells, on landings and exercise yards amid fears that they were being used to radicalise inmates. Two Muslim prisoners had also been banned from attending Friday prayers because of “security concerns”, Ms Owers’s inspection report said.

“A number of Muslim prisoners were held in segregation and the security department monitored those known to hold ‘radical Islamic’ views. Muslim prisoners were disaffected about being prevented from praying together communally,” the report said.

In July last year boiling cooking fat was poured over Dhiren Barot, an al-Qaeda plotter who was jailed for life in 2006 for planning to kill thousands of people in Britain and the US. He has since been moved from the jail. Last month fire broke out in the cell of Kamel Bourgas, serving life for the murder of Detective Constable Stephen Oake in Manchester in 2003.

The report said that an extremist-monitoring unit had recently been set up at the prison, which holds 713 inmates, including 452 serving life. There are 57 Muslim prisoners in the jail. Fourteen per cent of its inmates are from black and minority ethnic communities but the staff are overwhelmingly white. Ms Owers said that there was little understanding of Muslim issues, and many Muslim inmates believed that they were victimised because of their religious beliefs.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “It is inaccurate to suggest that Muslim prisoners are asking to be segregated for their own protection. Based on any intelligence or incidents that may have occurred, management may decide to segregate a prisoner.”

The spokesman said it had been agreed that communal prayers for all religions, involving up to three people, could take place in a prisoner’s cell.

Phil Wheatley, the director-general of the National Offender Management Service, said: “I am concerned about the comments raised on the safety within Frankland. However, this should be seen in the context of Frankland’s extremely challenging population. The issues raised in the report are currently being addressed.”

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