Developing a system of responding to racial complaints that earns the trust of BME prisoners

When prisoners are subjected to racism (either direct discrimination or more covert forms) and do not trust the official remedies, the justice of their whole treatment is undermined. There is evidence that the current complaints process is poorly equipped to meet prisoners’ needs in the aftermath of an experience of racial discrimination. This project is aimed at developing new ways of responding to racial incidents in prison designed to earn the trust of BME prisoners. This study will:

• conduct a survey to gauge the nature and extent of BME prisoners’ experience of racial discrimination
• interview a sample of BME prisoners about the problems with the current complaints system
• facilitate working groups of prisoners to come up with ideas about how the system could be improved
• work with prison managers to try out the proposals