A Prisoner in NSW Poured Boiling Water Over His Cellmate Then Carved an ISIS Slogan Into His Forehead

The flaws of a NSW prison's random cellmate allocation system were revealed late last week when an inmate allegedly carved an ISIS slogan into the forehead of the 40-year-old former ex-soldier he shared a room with, sending him to hospital.

Bourhan Hraichie was an inmate at Kempsey prison, on the state's mid north coast. The ABC reports that the 18-year-old bashed his cellmate, poured boiling water over him, and carved the Islamic State motto "e4e" into his skin. He has since been charged with grievous bodily harm and will face court in May.

NSW police have said in a statement that an argument over religious beliefs allegedly broke out between the two inmates.

The "e4e" carving would appear to stand for "eye for an eye," which relates to the punishment style favoured in a ruthless interpretation of Sharia law. It is unclear how the man obtained a razor from inside the prison.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Hraichie was a known extremist with connections to ISIS, and had previously been found to have a hand-drawn ISIS flag inside his cell. He had also reportedly been caught sending images of jihadist beheadings to other extremist prisoners.

Prisons in NSW have seen a rise in extremist ideologies among inmates recently. Last year Australia's highest security prison, Supermax Goulburn, relocated non-Muslim prisoners from an exercise yard when members of extreme ISIS-affiliated gangs threatened to behead inmates who refused to convert.

NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin told journalists on Sunday that he was "appalled" the two inmates had ended up in the same cell, especially when Hraichie posed such a clear violent threat to others.

"At face value, he should not have been sharing a cell with anybody," he said. "If you are radicalised and at risk of engaging in violent extremism, you need to be locked up. You need to be very highly controlled."

A Corrective Services spokesperson told VICE today that the young assailant has since been removed from Kempsey jail and placed in a maximum security detention facility in Goulbourn. His alleged victim "was taken to hospital and is expected to be discharged back to prison soon."

Greg Steele, the General Manager of the Kempsey prison, "has been stood down pending results of the investigation," she said.

"The attack appears to have had a strong fundamentalist element to it, and Corrective Services NSW will seek an independent assessment of its policies and procedures for the placement of fundamentalist inmates."

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