ISLAMIC extremists are using an al-Qaeda training manual to give them instructions for taking over the state's toughest jails, prison authorities have alleged.

Up to 40 inmates had established an internal organisational structure to maintain morale, resist interrogation and recruit members to Islam.

The prisoners had set up leadership groups in several maximum-security jails, with their activities governed by the code outlined in the al-Qaeda manual for incarcerated followers.

A number of Corrective Services staff have been targeted, some with violent threats by inmate groups. Other staff have been singled out for conversion to Islam.

NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said an undisclosed number of inmates had been transferred to other jails in an attempt to disrupt the leadership groups.

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