Violent lags will likely be locked up in US-style supermax prisons with ’23-hour confinement’
Justice secretary David Lammy accepted 13 recommendations by Jonathan Hall KC following a shocking alleged attack on staff by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi
It comes after Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi allegedly carried out a ‘terrorist’ attack(Image: Police Handout)
Violent and extremist lags will be locked up in US-style supermax prisons after a rising number of horror attacks on jail staff. Thugs will face harsher conditions inside special units called separation centres, which will severely restrict their movements.
The move comes after Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi allegedly carried out a “terrorist” attack on prison officers at a maximum security jail with hot cooking oil and makeshift weapons.
Three staff from HMP Frankland needed hospital treatment for serious injuries but Abedi denies three attempted murder charges for the 2025 attack. Now the UK could copy the toughest jails in the US, which have a 23-hour daily lockdown in concrete cells, minimal human contact and intense surveillance.
Justice secretary David Lammy accepted 13 recommendations by Jonathan Hall KC following the shocking incident.
Speaking in the Commons, he would “explore all available options to overhaul the system” including “new tougher supermax-style units for the most violent, disruptive prisoners”.
He added: “This will be a tiered system, with movement between tiers only permitted following rigorous new risk assessments. We will begin designing this system immediately.”
Separation centres were created in 2017 to isolate extremist offenders from the mainstream prison population. Prisons that currently have the centres are HMP Full Sutton near York, HMP Frankland in County Durham, and HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.
But some lawyers have argued that the centres are illegal. A High Court ruled that a convicted terrorist had his human rights breached by being kept away from other prisoners.
Mr Lammy said he would consider whether new laws were needed to “protect decisions taken by experienced staff in separation centres”.
He said it would let “staff to focus on managing risks and protecting the public”.
Federal US supermax prisons are notoriously harsh environments. If the UK does indeed adopt America’s way of dealing with their most deadly prisoners, it’s not just 23-hours in confinement our inmates may have to endure.
When departing their cells for washing or the exercise yard, supermax prisoners are handcuffed, shackled, and frequently placed in chains which wrap around their stomachs, accompanied by several officers.
In contrast to conventional jails, supermax facilities provide extremely limited, if any, employment, educational, or leisure activities, meaning British inmates could encounter minimal or zero opportunities for reintegration into society.
Physical activity, permitted for just one hour daily, typically occurs in solitude within a small, fenced, or concrete enclosure, sometimes referred to as “the empty swimming pool”.
The severe isolation is routinely condemned for triggering or worsening psychiatric conditions, resulting in anxiety, depression, hallucinations, and self-harm. Upon placement in a supermax facility, prisoners generally stay there for numerous years or permanently.
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, stands as the sole federal supermax prison in America, and is famous for housing criminals such as the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, shoe bomber Richard Reid, and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
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