UK: Prison officers investigated over racist material
01 May 2001
Three prison officers, two men and a woman, have been arrested after a police raid on their north London homes, which uncovered racist literature. The raids, which were part of an investigation into a network of prison officers, were prompted by allegations of racially aggravated harassment by staff at Holloway women's prison and Pentonville in north London. All three officers have been suspended from duty and charged with possession of racially offensive material; they have been released on bail to appear in court later this year. In May a prison officer was dismissed from Frankland prison in Durham after he refused to stop wearing nazi paraphanalia including a swastika tie pin and an SS badge.
The arrests are the most recent in a sequence of allegations of racism directed against the Prison Service. In June 1999, 22 prison officers from Wormwood Scrubs prison were charged with assaulting inmates (see Statewatch vol 8 no 2 and 5; vol 9 nos 1 and 3 & 4). Last November the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) launched a general inquiry into racism in the prison service. It will focus on three institutions, HMP Brixton, Feltham Young Offenders Institution (YOI) in London and Parc prison, south Wales.
For the CRE the racist behaviour of inmates at Parc was considered significant, while a June 2000 report into race relations at HMP Brixton, by the Prison Service's race advisor Judy Clements, found "alarming evidence" of discrimination by staff at the south London prison. The CRE's initiative was taken in direct response to the leaked internal report on the racist murder of nineteen year old Zahid Mabarek at Feltham YOI in March 2000 (see Statewatch vol 10 no 2). However, Zahid's family are "shocked and dismayed" at the limited scope of the investigation and have sought a judicial review of it. In its place they have demanded a public and accountable inquiry similar to the investigation into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence which "showed the benefits of attempting to eradicate racism in an open and transparent manner". Suresh Grover, chairman of the National Civil Rights Movement, has predicted that: "The CRE's current plan will fail to deliver and simply add to a mountain of other damning reports and well-intentioned paper policies and action programmes."
On 26 July the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, issued his latest public report which condemned Feltham B (the wing for young offenders aged between 18-21) as unsafe and dirty with many inmates spending most of the day in their cells and staff who were predominantly and profoundly negative. Ramsbotham has previously described conditions at the institution as "unacceptable in a civilised society", and in his latest inspection he noticed no improvement.
Judy Clements "Assessment of race relations at HMP Brixton" (Respond) June 2000; ER Butt "Investigation into the death in custody of Zahid Mubarek on 21 March 2000 at HMYOI/RC Feltham. Parts 1 (31.10.00) & 2 (13.11.00); Independent 16.7.01.