No Arabic staff at jail "creating risks"

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - A lack of Muslim and Arabic-speaking staff at a jail that detains terrorism suspects is creating a security risk because they could not understand what inmates were discussing, a government report revealed on Wednesday.

Despite staff working at Long Lartin prison's specialist terrorism unit insisting such culture training was essential, authorities had yet to introduce any sufficient education, a report by the Prisons' chief inspector found.

Anne Owers' report said that while managers had "taken steps to raise cultural awareness" - with visits to mosques and funding Arabic lessons - it was a small step "given the size of the cultural and language gaps".

The report concluded that security and care was balanced, but that could change because of the lack of Arabic-speaking and Muslim officers.

The specialist unit at the Worcestershire prison was created in May 2005 and can hold up to 20 detainees who have not been charged with offences, but are believed to be "involved in terrorist international activity and are said to be a threat to national security".

"A concern was that (apart from the Muslim chaplaincy) there were no Muslim or Arabic-speaking staff who had first-hand appreciation of important cultural differences or who could understand what the detainees were saying to each other," the report said.

"This made it more difficult to manage the detainees on a daily basis, as well as presenting some security concerns, as staff could never be certain what was being discussed between detainees. There was currently no training for unit staff, though staff, managers and the Muslim chaplaincy all said they felt (it) was essential."

It urged a recruitment drive to attract more Muslim staff and to increase funding for Arabic classes.