Our next story is from UK. Are prisons in Britain becoming breeding grounds for religious conversions? If Shadow Justice Secretary and Conservative MP Nick Timothy is to be believed, this is supposedly the case. He has now alleged that white prisoners are being forced to convert to Islam. And what is his hypothesis for this? Referring to data allegedly published by UK's Ministry of Justice, he claimed that one in five Muslims in UK jails is white.
This is nearly four times the rate of 5.8% in the country's general population. According to reports, the number of white Muslims in UK jails has increased by 16% from 2022 to 2025. This is not all. The UK MP also claimed that the number of Muslims in UK jails have increased, accounting for 18% of the prison population. This comes despite Muslims making up only 6.5% of the general population. In wake of this, he called upon the UK government to initiate a probe and stamp out forced religion conversions in jails.
Now, this is not an isolated accusation. It has reflected in reports commissioned by the UK government in the past. For instance, Jonathan Hall who led a review of a legislation on terrorism in jails found that some charismatic or violent prisoners act as self-styled emirs and ensure religious conversions by implicit or actual violence. He claimed that two jailed terrorists had threatened other inmates in a bid to convert them to Islam. Another report by Colin Bloom stated that a new prisoner's failure to identify as a Muslim would lead to him being denied protection from the dominant Muslim gang in jail.
Responding to the UK MP's claims, a UK government spokesperson affirmed that there is no tolerance for intimidation, gang activity or faith-based coercion of any kind in Britain's prisons. The government also stressed that prison staff act swiftly to clamp down on threatening behaviour from any groups or individuals. Last month, a report released by Britain's inspector of prisons revealed how dire the situation is.
After a thorough inspection of prisons he found that availability of illicit drugs often brought in by drones remained the most significant threat to safety across UK's jails. The forced conversion row is yet another wake-up call for the government in Britain.