Concern at alleged racist behaviour by prison staff

7:42am Monday 4th August 2008

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CONCERNS have been raised about alleged racist behaviour by staff at a prison.

In at least one case at Northallerton Young Offenders’ Institute in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, a Muslim inmate had his prayer mat and hat confiscated by staff.

While independent monitors were dealing with that, they discovered “inappropriate and offensive racist remarks”

scrawled on the same offender’s property bag.

In total, there were 17 racist incident reports at the institution – the oldest operational prison in the country – last year, according to its independent monitoring board.

Its annual report says the racist complaints were taken seriously by the governor and resulted in formal inquiries taking place.

However, it adds that the complaints should be placed in the context of the generally low level of racist incidents reported at the institution – and the continuing diversity training for staff.

The racist incidents were part of a number of issues raised by the monitoring board, where they are calling for action to be taken.

The report said allowing segregation inmates to shower once every three days was “unacceptable and scarcely in line with the current emphasis on decency”.

It said some 20-year-old cells were “ingrained with dirt”, the windows were “harbouring detritus” and a promised deep-clean was “superficial”.

It also criticised doublingup in cells; juveniles brought in to serve time at the institution, which is designed for 18 to 21-year-olds, and inmates having to eat food in cells with toilets.

A spokesman for the prison service insisted that all allegations of racist behaviour were treated “extremely” seriously.

“They are internally investigated by a trained race equality officer and a formal disciplinary investigation is commissioned, if there is a need for further investigation,”

he said.

He added that cells were only used to hold two inmates if they were of adequate size and that the segregation policy had now been changed and showers were available every two days.

A spokesman for the pressure group Smart Justice said: “A person’s religious beliefs should be respected – that’s a given.”