Arena inquiry chief calls for jail-visit reform

PREVENTING extremist prisoners from radicalising people who visit them behind bars 'cannot effectively be achieved' under the current system, the chairman of the Manchester Arena bombing public inquiry has said.

- PAUL BRITTON

Sir John Saunders has called for widespread change, saying prison conversations should be 'supervised' in the case of an inmate who 'poses a particular risk to others. He said the Prison Service needed a specific scheme 'designed to address the risk that radicalised prisoners present both to other prisoners and to visitors. The current system, he added, means a prisoner's category of risk is solely determined by their risk of escape.

MPS, meanwhile, heard suicide bomber Salman Abedi's repeated visits to a man convicted of terrorism offences 'did not trigger a further assessment, despite some of the wider things that were known' about him and his family. Labour said the fact 'does raise serious concerns.