A whistleblower with years of experience inside Victoria’s correctional system has come forward with explosive allegations that Australian prisons have become breeding grounds for Islamist radicalisation.

Convicted terrorist offenders are recruiting, networking and maintaining influence behind bars while authorities conceal the scale of the problem to protect the reputation of the prison system.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said Muslim inmates have become highly influential in many Victorian prisons, a trend also evident in New South Wales and other parts of the country. Of particular concern was the influence sometimes extends beyond the inmates themselves to include correctional staff as well, creating an environment where extremist ideology spreads with little effective intervention.

“These are people who should be punished for what they have done, but instead they’re being incentivised. They are being rewarded and they’re able to get away with things that nobody should be getting away with,” he said.

Among those holding influence are not only violent offenders and organised criminals, but convicted terrorist offenders who pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

One incident that stayed with him involved a group of convicted terrorist offenders exercising together in a prison yard.

“I remember once seeing a group of terrorist offenders training in the yard one time,” he said.  

“One of the officers looked at this and said, ‘F***ing hell, this looks like an al-Qaeda training camp.’”

The remark was laughed off at the time. He now believes it pointed to a far deeper problem.

“We have camps operating. They are in our prisons.”

Convicted terrorist offenders have greater opportunities to radicalise others while locked up than they would on the outside. A growing nexus has formed between Islamist extremists and organised criminal networks, including bikie gangs, allowing extremist prisoners to build relationships with offenders who have extensive criminal connections beyond the walls.

One example was a convicted arms smuggler who had never been religious. After mixing with Islamist inmates he became radicalised.

“Now you have a person who has access to weapons in touch with Islamists,” the source said.

He drew a direct historical parallel: “This is how ISIS came about. It was formed within the prisons of Iraq that the Americans were managing.”

Prisoners are converting to Islam inside, sometimes for protection rather than genuine belief. Muslim inmates offer vulnerable prisoners protection and a “clean slate” in exchange for conversion. Some later embrace extremist ideology.

One case cited by the whistleblower was that of convicted rapist and murderer Jaymes Todd, who raped and murdered Eurydice Dixon. The whistleblower claimed Todd has been converted to Islam while imprisoned and was radicalised by Abdul Nacer Benbrika, the man convicted over the plot to bomb Melbourne’s MCG.

“So now you have James Todd… trying to convert other prisoners within the system.”

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Another involved Ali Khalif Shire Ali, convicted over a planned terrorist shooting of members of the public. While he was inside, his brother Hassan Khalif Shire Ali visited him regularly. Hassan later carried out the 2018 Bourke Street terrorist attack.

According to the source, Hassan sought religious approval for the attack by sending questions into the prison during family visits. Those questions were considered by imprisoned jihadist leaders, including Benbrika. Approval was allegedly given. Imprisoned extremists continued directing terrorist activity from behind bars.

The failures go beyond radicalisation to the response of prison authorities, with the whistleblower citing known issues within the prison system.

A female prisoner convicted of a terrorism offence, who had previously stabbed her homestay host, was deemed successfully “deradicalised” through a prison program. She was then given gardening shears and used them to stab another inmate at the first opportunity.

In another incident, a prisoner accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad was set upon by four or five Muslim inmates who tried to kill him. One prisoner was left with a severed finger. Rather than treat it as an attempted terrorist attack, one of those involved received only a two-week lockdown.

“It shows that even when actual terror attacks happen in prison, corrections will not report them.”

Victoria’s taxpayer-funded deradicalisation program was described as an “abject failure.” Prisoners simply tell authorities what they want to hear so they can leave isolation or gain privileges. Corrections officials have every incentive to classify participants as successfully rehabilitated.

“It’s in nobody’s interests to call it out for what it is, a failure.”

Convicted terrorist offenders were given access to electronic briefs containing ISIS propaganda videos, bomb-making manuals and recordings of extremist preacher Anwar al-Awlaki because the material formed part of the evidence in their cases. Prisoners copied the material onto Corrections-approved USB devices and distributed it throughout the system.

Correctional officers who reported death threats and intimidation by Muslim prisoners routinely saw the offenders transferred to different units instead of being properly disciplined.

The greatest failure, the source said, sits with Corrections Victoria’s leadership.

“My guess is that the correction system is very self-serving in that it doesn’t want to be seen as a place where radicalisation is occurring.  
They want to pass themselves off as being great at their jobs, that they have everything under control and there’s nothing to see here.”

The same culture that sees prison management manipulate drug-testing statistics, targeting inmates unlikely to test positive while avoiding known users, extends to extremist activity. Incidents of radicalisation are concealed because acknowledging the scale of the problem would expose systemic failures and embarrass both Corrections Victoria and the Victorian Government.