Muslims in jail suffer disproportionately high use of force by officers

Muslim prisoners are disproportionately subjected to force including pain-inducing techniques by prison officers, data has shown.

- Rajeev Syal

In eight out of nine prisons with high Muslim populations, Muslim men were subject to a disproportionately higher use of batons, rigid bar handcuffs or being deliberately held in a painful position, freedom of information law requests found.

The figures have been disclosed amid demands for a crackdown on Muslim gangs within the prison estate after claims that they are effectively running some prisons.

The social justice charity Maslaha requested data from nine prisons with higher than average Muslim populations on the use of batons, rigid bar handcuffs and pain-inducing techniques such as thumb flexion, wrist flexion, inverted wrist hold and "mandibular angle" - putting pressure on a nerve below the ear.