ISLAMIC extremism is a growing problem among Britain’s prison population.

The dangers of sending someone as charismatic and manipulative as Anjem Choudary to a jail where 20 per cent of the population are disaffected Muslims should be obvious. Islamic extremists are in the business of recruiting from prison.

Although the number of Islamist prisoners in Britain jails is relatively small – just 130 – the Government fears as many as 1,000 prisoners are at risk of being radicalised while they are behind bars.

However, in looking for a solution to this problem there is a real danger of making things worse.

The dilemma is whether to group the radicals together in one “Super Max” prison where they can be tightly controlled, or dispersing them throughout the country so they cannot plot together.

Yesterday’s Government-ordered review is a uniquely political fudge – no new Super Max prison but stopping short of full dispersal. Instead, Islamic radicals will be split between six high-security jails and rotated between them.

Building one high-security jail to house the country’s worst criminals risks creating a British Guantanamo Bay and handing terror groups a uniquely powerful recruiting tool.

But the new plan will only work if incarceration goes hand-in-hand with an effective de-radicalisation programme. The long-term solution is not to lock people up and throw away the key, it has to be finding a way of making the preachers of hatred to renounce the terror groups they proselytise.

Imprisonment will never provide the solution to dealing with terrorism.

Ultimately, the solution lies beyond the prison gates and it will take an awful long time to accomplish. But that does not mean we should not try.