LAPTOPS FOR TERROR SUSPECTS

A JAIL decision to give £1,000 laptops to 28 top terror suspects was last night branded "disgraceful" and a dangerous waste of money.
Belmarsh bosses said the computers were necessary to help the men prepare their legal defences.
But angry critics said the £28,000 would be better spent on upping security at the jail which, the Mirror can reveal, is about a third understaffed.
They also fear that the laptops could be used for criminal activity even though there will be no internet access.
The prisoners include those accused of the 21/7 attempted bombings in London, al-Qaeda suspects and members of the bullying Muslim Boys gang.
A source said: "It's a disgraceful waste of taxpayers' money. The prison is severely understaffed and £28,000 could have recruited an officer for 18 months.
"It's also dangerous. The prisoners could easily make CD-Roms, which could be handed to visitors, and orchestrate criminal activity from the inside.
"Inmates are incredibly resourceful. It wouldn't surprise me if they eventually managed to get the internet on their laptops.
"We're talking about men who've engineered their own mobile phone battery chargers."
The laptops will be handed to prisoners this week for private use in their cells.
Hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza, 47 - jailed for seven years last month for race hate and terror crimes - was given a laptop days after he arrived at the South London jail on remand.
Terror suspects are held in a special high-security unit at Belmarsh.
But an insider disclosed: "We're around a third of staff short and at full stretch everyday. We desperately need more.
"When resignations, training courses, holidays and sickness kick in we really feel the pinch.
"Some days, units are shut down because there are not enough officers to man them. It's a juggling act."
When the Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers visited last October, four men were held in one spur and nine in another. One man was in his own secure unit.
Five Category A inmates were the only prisoners in the country to be classed as an "exceptional risk".
A Prison Service spokesman said: "Belmarsh has received a delivery of laptops for prisoners. Internet access will be removed before they are made available.
"Under Prison Service Orders, prison inmates must have access to adequate facilities to prepare their legal cases.
"Much of the information provided by the Crown Prosecution Service relating to their cases is stored in electronic format.
"Prisoners must be able to read this evidence."
greig.box@mirror.co.uk


JAIL 'DOESN'T UNDERSTAND' MUSLIMS

PRISON officers in Belmarsh do not understand the social and religious behaviour of Muslims, says a report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers.
Ms Owers is concerned that four remand prisoners on terror charges were allowed to meet only in pairs and were banned from communal Friday prayers.
She said: "It is vital that prisons understand the prisoners they hold and can assess the relationships between and within different groups of prisoners in order to be able to manage them safely.
"We did not believe this was the case for staff in relation to Muslim prisoners at Belmarsh." But a source at the jail said: "The governor does everything possible to accommodate the Muslims' needs. During Ramadan, staff stayed up all night cooking for men who had fasted during the day.
"We cater for their special diet needs and accommodate every religious festival in the Islamic calendar.
"But when prisoners asked for a Midnight Mass service at Christmas they were told we didn't have the staff."
Ms Owers said that overall Belmarsh was "making progress" but she made 127 recommendations for improvement.
Prison Service director general Phil Wheatley said: "What is important for Belmarsh is not to be diverted by issues specific to a small number of prisoners."
A Prison Service spokeswoman said: "Belmarsh takes the issue of faith very seriously. In a prison where 17 religious faiths are represented, great care is taken to ensure staff are aware of the cultural and religious issues affecting prisoners."

update
Abu Hamza’s prison computer has been seized in a security swoop — to stop him surfing the net.
The hook-handed Muslim cleric and a string of al-Qaeda terror suspects had been loaned Toshiba laptops to help them prepare their defence.
Hamza, is appealing his seven-year sentence for preaching sermons of hate and incitement to murder. US authorities also want to extradite him for trial on terror charges.
The computers’ modems had been disconnected. But then jail bosses discovered they could be re-activated — and with a mobile could provide access to websites.
The lags could then have contacted terror groups. Guards at London’s top-security Belmarsh Prison have now impounded the computers, believed to be around 30.
A prison source said: "What’s happened is madness.
"Any access to the internet means they could have been orchestrating the next London bomb attacks. Everyone was assured that the modems had been removed. But now we’ve discovered they had just been disconnected. It’s a joke."
A Prison Service spokesman confirmed that the computers had been "recalled".