News

Black young men are more likely to go to prison than university. Last year there were more African-Caribbean entrants to prisons in England and Wales (more than 11,500) than there were to UK universities (about 8,000).¹

So what is life like if you're young, black and in prison? No bed of roses, according to a string of reports published over the past six months.

In December 2003, the Commission for Racial Equality found 14 separate areas in which the prison service had failed to eradicate racism in prisons.² In the same month, the Children's Society published disturbing research into the discrimination young black men in custody experience.³

And last month, an independent study commissioned by the Youth Justice Board found that young people from ethnic minorities were significantly disadvantaged at various stages of their contact with the criminal justice system.

When the government's own youth justice body expresses concern that young men of mixed parentage suffer a higher rate of prosecution and conviction than their white counterparts, it is time to take notice. The YJB's Differences and Discrimination report reveals that a young black male is nearly seven times more likely to be sentenced in crown court to 12 months or longer in custody than a white male with similar case characteristics; a greater proportion of young black and Asian men are remanded into custody before sentencing; and there is a greater proportion of young black men remanded in custody who are not in the end convicted of any crime.

The question of why such discrimination exists was apparently beyond the scope of the study. However, unearthing the reasons for blatantly racist practices would seem to be a matter demanding urgent investigation followed by swift action.

In the meantime, the YJB has asked all youth offending teams to audit their practice and report back. A step in the right direction perhaps, but utterly irrelevant to the young black men interviewed by David Wilson, author of the Children's Society report, when he tried to ascertain what level of racism they came across inside and how they coped.

Obtaining access to interview young black people about their experiences was a struggle, and despite obtaining official permission to visit Feltham young offender institution (of particular relevance after the murder of Zahid Mubarek by his cellmate), access was denied by the prison itself.

"Every prison had handpicked the young men I was allowed to interview," says Wilson. "I've no doubt that the prison service chose the institutions it did because they had been said to be OK by the chief inspector of prisons. So I was surprised by what I found the young men were saying to me."

One inmate of a YOI in northern England said: "One of the officers said to me, 'You are a piece of shit. When I wipe my arse it looks like you'."

Another young man doing time in the south of England explained the way that subtle racism shapes the environment in which black inmates carry out their sentences. "What if it was all black govs and all black lads on the servery? What if it was all black lads that worked outside as orderlies and it was all the white lads that were banged up? What if all the white lads kept getting stitched up? Then they'd know how it felt, because that's how it feels to me."

Few of the young black prisoners interviewed had heard of the race relations liaison officer to whom complaints can be made and whose responsibility it is to log all racial incidents.

"There was a parallel universe in existence," says Wilson. "In the official structure, there were race relations teams, mission statements, targets. But the very people for whom that system was created either had no idea it existed or had no trust in it."

This is no surprise to Farida Anderson, chief executive of Partners of Prisoners, a charity that works in YOIs with young black prisoners both during and after their sentences to challenge racist practices and improve relations between black prisoners and staff (see below).

"It's unfair to expect young people to use systems that were designed by highly educated people," she says. "The prison can say that information about the race relations liaison officer and complaints procedures are in the induction handbook, but it's boring - who reads that? It matters how information is delivered, so we've said why not make videos or find another way these young men can relate to."


She says simply recruiting more ethnic minority staff to the criminal justice system is not the whole solution. "It's difficult for ethnic minority staff to be confident operating in that situation. What I say to them is, if you see things happening and don't speak up, how do you expect a 17-year-old to use your complaints systems? If you're young and in prison, you're going to be vulnerable because you don't have the skills. If you're young and black, even more so."

The YJB's director of practice and performance, Chris Hume, believes that more work must be done to offer a better service to young black people before they get into trouble and after they are released from custody.

He says: "Race awareness training has a role to play, but we think equal value means identifying and sharing best practice. There can be a paralysis on the part of practitioners on how to meet the needs of ethnic minority young people - we need to ensure that white staff feel skilled so that they can provide a service."

- Community Care's Back on Track campaign is calling for a dramatic reduction in the number of young people held in custody. See www.communitycare.co.uk/backontrack for details.

¹ Prison Service, Commission for Racial Equality, Implementing Race Equality in Prisons, 2004

² Commission for Racial Equality, Racial Equality in Prisons, 2003

³ Children's Society, Playing the Game, 2003


Good practice in Doncaster

Diane Curry, director of Partners of Prisoners, says: "We started going into Moorland young offender institution in Doncaster six years ago. The point of getting young black men together is to sort out their day-to-day issues around race relations, because their cultural needs generally don't get met by the prison service.

"Young people do not complain - to them it's a paper exercise. So once a month for a whole day we meet up so that collectively they can raise their voice about issues that are bothering them. It means that nobody is seen as an individual 'troublemaker' because often other young men will back them up and say they've experienced something similar. So it's a safe space to make your view heard.

"We're very focused on working with prison staff and the race relations liaison officer is in meetings. You have to do a lot of work beforehand with the staff; the environment has to be right and you have to feel that the work is welcomed.

"There's always a lot of cynicism to start with - you know, why do black people have to meet as a group, why are they getting something extra? The reason is that support structures for young people in prison are minimal, but for young black people they are even less. White people at least see that the management structures are white, most prison staff are white. Young black people don't even see many black workers in the probation service.

"Overtly, racism isn't there any longer. People still hold racist views though, and transfer them into more covert situations. So I hear young men say, 'I'm being blocked through my sentence' - meaning that they can't move as easily as white people into open conditions. Or they're targeted for drug testing. Or force is used more often on them."