Conservative leadership candidate Rishi Sunak has pledged to address the issue of Islamist ideology in British prisons by separating terrorist suspects from other inmates.
If he is elected as the party's new leader, the former chancellor, whose resignation last month precipitated the resignation of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has stated that he will reform how Britain deals with Islamist terror offenders.
His pledge comes amid widespread concern that poorly managed and overcrowded prisons are breeding grounds for radicalization.
Sunak stated that he would make it a crime to spread Islamist ideology in prisons and that he would reform the Prevent program, Britain's counter-extremism initiative, to ensure that Islamism was prioritized over other terrorist threats.
"There is no more important duty for a Prime Minister than keeping our country and our people safe," said Sunak, on the campaign trail to win Conservative Party members' votes.
"Whether redoubling our efforts to tackle Islamist extremism or rooting out those who are vocal in their hatred of our country, I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that duty. Britain is a beacon of freedom, tolerance, and diversity. We must never let those who seek to undermine and destroy our way of life succeed," he said.
Additionally, Sunak's plan to amend the Terrorism Act is intended to make the support of a proscribed organization and the encouragement of terrorism in a prison cell an offense, even if it involves only two prisoners.
If elected Prime Minister, he intends to pass a Bill of Rights to make it easier to separate terrorists from the general prison population, making sure they can no longer abuse our human rights framework to spread their "poisonous ideology".
Sunak and Truss are currently laying out their policy agenda on key issues as they hold hustings up and down the UK to take questions from Tory members entitled to vote in the leadership race, which closes on September 2. The results will be declared on September 5.
If he is elected as the party's new leader, the former chancellor, whose resignation last month precipitated the resignation of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has stated that he will reform how Britain deals with Islamist terror offenders.
His pledge comes amid widespread concern that poorly managed and overcrowded prisons are breeding grounds for radicalization.
Sunak stated that he would make it a crime to spread Islamist ideology in prisons and that he would reform the Prevent program, Britain's counter-extremism initiative, to ensure that Islamism was prioritized over other terrorist threats.
"There is no more important duty for a Prime Minister than keeping our country and our people safe," said Sunak, on the campaign trail to win Conservative Party members' votes.
"Whether redoubling our efforts to tackle Islamist extremism or rooting out those who are vocal in their hatred of our country, I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that duty. Britain is a beacon of freedom, tolerance, and diversity. We must never let those who seek to undermine and destroy our way of life succeed," he said.
Additionally, Sunak's plan to amend the Terrorism Act is intended to make the support of a proscribed organization and the encouragement of terrorism in a prison cell an offense, even if it involves only two prisoners.
If elected Prime Minister, he intends to pass a Bill of Rights to make it easier to separate terrorists from the general prison population, making sure they can no longer abuse our human rights framework to spread their "poisonous ideology".
Sunak and Truss are currently laying out their policy agenda on key issues as they hold hustings up and down the UK to take questions from Tory members entitled to vote in the leadership race, which closes on September 2. The results will be declared on September 5.
