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The federal prison in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Que, that is home to the Special Handling Unit, a facility described as Canada's version of a U.S. supermax prison. The SHU is home to five men convicted of terrorism offences.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press

Five men convicted of distinct al-Qaeda-inspired bomb plots have ended up isolated in a single wing within Canada's most punishing prison – a fate they say they don't deserve.

The complaints from the inmates arise as federal authorities struggle with how to jail radical Islamists – whether to isolate them, what programs to craft for them and how to achieve the correctional system's stated goal of rehabilitation.

Government officials say they have good reason for keeping such inmates away from the general prison population, fearing they may radicalize others. But the policy does produce an ironic result: The convicted terror plotters associate mostly with one another.

The issue is not large in terms of numbers. The five prisoners represent the bulk of the terrorism convicts sent to penitentiaries since Canada passed the Anti-Terrorism Act in 2001.

Although convicted by different judges in far-flung courtrooms, each inmate has ended up in the Special Handling Unit (SHU), a facility outside of Montreal that's described as Canada's version of a U.S. supermax prison. Their sentences range from 18 years to life.

The SHU (pronounced "shoe") is a wing of a federal penitentiary in St. Anne des Plaines, Que., that's typically reserved for up to 90 of the country's most violent inmates. Prisoners are jailed in two-metre-by-three-metre cells for about 22 hours daily, constantly observed by a battery of video cameras, and have relatively little access to exercise yards, educational programs and fellow human beings.

"This is savagery," Shareef Abdelhaleem, a 35-year-old convicted bomb plotter, told The Globe and Mail in a telephone interview from the SHU, saying he was speaking for the other convicted terrorists. "We're going to be here forever."

Claiming to be a model inmate, the former computer programmer was sentenced to life and will be eligible to apply for parole in 2016. The harshest punishment that he and his cohorts in the SHU face, he said, is that they rarely get to be with anyone except for one another.

Visiting family members are only seen through transparent barriers in a prison interview room. "To take away the ability to touch our families and our children is going above and beyond," said Mr. Abdelhaleem. "I have a mother with a single failing kidney and these [guards]tell me I can't touch her."

The official rationale for his SHU placement changes, he said. "The excuses have varied – 'You're high-risk' or 'We're afraid if we put you in GP [general population]you might radicalize people.' "

Correctional Service of Canada officials would not speak about individual cases. But in an e-mail, they noted they have specific policies for terrorism cases. One directive states that within two weeks of sentencing, convicted terrorists deserving of maximum-security conditions ought to be considered for SHU placements, with periodic security reassessments.

The SHU is usually earmarked for violent prisoners – inmates who have a track record of hurting others, but who rotate back into less restrictive custody after serving a few months. There are some long-term SHU inmates: notorious killers such as biker Maurice (Mom) Boucher and child murderer Clifford Olson.

"Bad PR is not a good enough reason to send someone there," Howard Sapers, the correctional investigator of Canada, said in an interview. A watchdog who monitors inmate complaints, Mr. Sapers said he is seeing no evidence that any class of prisoners is being sent to the SHU arbitrarily.

While he conceded that the SHU incorporates "the most significant curtailment of civil liberties allowed for by Canadian law," he pointedly added that recruitment and radicalization in prison "are real concerns and shouldn't be diminished."

Mr. Abelhaleem was sent to the SHU after being sentenced earlier this year. He said he doesn't want to radicalize anyone and that he has shown no inclination toward institutional violence. "Why am I in the SHU to begin with?" he said. "The FLQ weren't in the SHU. As a matter of fact, they weren't even in max."

During his pretrial custody five years ago, he was kept segregated from his co-accused for fear they'd hatch new plots if left alone together. Now most of the people Mr. Abdelhaleem interacts with, apart from jail guards, are other men convicted of terrorist bomb plots.

"If the public is not sympathetic – I got life. I am going to die in prison," he said, before glumly adding that "although I personally think for not killing anyone, for a conspiracy, it's way too high."

Editor's note: an earlier version of this story published online and in Thursday's newspaper incorrectly stated Shareef Abdelhaleem's parole eligibility. Mr. Abdelhaleem will be eligible to apply for parole in 2016.

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