Race and Prisons
| Published date | 01 June 2000 |
| Date | 01 June 2000 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455050004700211 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
138
most
people
mentioned
existing
options.
Restorative
options
were
a
common
choice
for
first
time
juvenile
offenders,
but
custodial
sentences
were
very
popular
for
persistent
offenders.
Attitudes
to
Crime
and
Criminal
Justice:
Findings
from
the
1998
British
Crime
Survey,
2000,
by
Joanna
Mattinson
and
Catriona
Mirrlees-Black,
Home
Office
Research
Study
200.
Race and
Prisons
Although
the
Prison
Service
has
made
an
unequivocal
commitment
to
tackling
racism,
this
NACRO
report
suggests
that
ground
level
practice
still
leaves
much
to
be
desired.
It
briefly
summarises
relevant
research
and
statistics
and
traces
the
Prison
Service’s
response
since
its
first
policy
statement
on
race
equality
in
1981.
It
concludes
that
much
progress
was
made
during
the
1980s
and
early
1990s -
which
saw,
for
example,
the
publication
of
a
new
race
relations
manual and
an
ethnic
minority
recruitment
drive -
but
that
this
stalled
after
1994,
with
&dquo;the
new
emphasis
on
security,
control
and
’austerity’
in
prisons&dquo;.
There
have been
more
positive
developments
since
1997
when
Prison
Service
Order
2800 -
a
new
streamlined
race
relations
policy -
was
issued.
This
was
followed
in
1999
by
the
’RESPOND’
programme,
whose
strategic
aims
include
recruiting
and
developing
ethnic
minority
staff,
ensuring
equal
opportunities
for
prisoners
and
actively
confronting
harassment
and
discrimination.
The
Survey -
The
current
survey
was
conducted
dunng
1998-9,
and
provides
a
way
of
gauging
the
success
of
the
Prison
Service’s
efforts
to
implement
change.
It
encompassed
1,223
prisoners
and
295
prison
staff
drawn
from
seven
prisons,
two
of
which
housed
women
prisoners.
It
makes
no
claim
to
being
rigorous
research,
ra~ther
presenting
a
’snapshot’
of
attitudes
and
perceptions
to
assist
the
Prison
Service’s
work
on
race
relations.
Main
findings:
Racist Assaults -
One
of
the
most
striking,
though
not
unexpected,
findings
was
that
while
35%
of
racial
minority
prisoners
said
they
had
been
subjected
to
a
racially
motivated
physical
or
verbal
assault
by
prison
staff
or
other
prisoners,
only
a
small
proportion
said
they
had
reported
it.
Their
reasons
included
a
lack
of
confidence
in
anything
being
done,
fear
of
reprisals
and
a
desire
to
avoid
being
seen
as
a
’grass’.
Asian
prisoners
were
particularly
likely
to
be
victims
of
racially
motivated
verbal
abuse
(49%),
and
12%
of
both
black
and
Asian
prisoners
said
they
had
experienced
a
racially
motivated
assault.
Perceptions
of Race
Relations
and
Staff
Attitudes -
Prison
officers’
views
about
the
state
of
race
relations
contrasted
starkly
with
those
of
the
prisoners.
Fifty-nine
percent
of
staff
thought
they
were
good
or
very
good,
compared
with
only
27%
of
prisoners.
Over
three
times
as
many
prisoners
(20%)
as
staff
(6%)
considered
relations
to
be
poor
or
very
poor.
Amongst
staff,
the
report
notes
a
&dquo;strong
element
of
denial&dquo;
of
any
problem,
and
that
it
is
&dquo;clearly
difficult
for
some
staff
to
discuss
race
issues
without
feeling
defensive&dquo;.
It
condemns
such
an
approach
in
the
strongest
terms:
&dquo;It
is
shocking
that
after
20
years
of
policy
and
practice,
a
minority
of
prison
staff
can
still
demonstrate
the
kind
of
attitudes
expressed
in
this
report.
The
underlying
principles
of
equality,
fairness,
humanity
and
dignity
are,
for
them,
lost
in
vague
allegations
of
perceived
political
correctness
and
unfairness
to
the
white
majority.
To
be
one
of
the
very
few
black
or
Asian
prisoners
under
the
total
control
of
staff
like
this
must
be
truly
terrifying&dquo;
(p.48).
Advice
and
Facilities -
There
was
a
generally
lower
level
of
satisfaction
among
minority
prisoners
about
access
to
goods
and
services,
such
as
counselling,
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