Ministry of Justice Accused of Hiding Scale of Racism in British Prisons

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has failed to centrally collect data on racism within the prison service, raising fears that the full extent of racial discrimination is being hidden from public scrutiny, an investigation by Byline Times has found. 

This gap in data collection was highlighted following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Byline Times, which sought to uncover the number of racism complaints lodged by prisoners and staff from 2019 to 2023. The MoJ told Byline that such data is not centrally maintained but is kept locally at individual prisons, and refused to reveal the number, citing costs. 

This raises wider concerns about transparency and accountability within the prison service and suggests that racism may be as widespread and entrenched in the prison system as it has been found to be in the police and military.

The revelation follows in the wake of a damning new report from the Prison Reform Trust. This report argues that both the MoJ and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) have neglected crucial race and equality work. Based on a national consultation by the Prisoner Policy Network (PPN)—a coalition of prisoners, ex-prisoners, and supporting organisations—the June 2024 report documents widespread experiences of racial discrimination among both prisoners and staff. The PPN’s findings reveal that racism remains a persistent issue, with many respondents citing overt and covert forms of discrimination, ranging from racial slurs to more subtle structural inequalities.

One new and striking case found by Byline Times is that of Uzo Mbonu, a 52-year-old former Band 3 Prison Officer at HMP Swaleside, who detailed his experiences in an exclusive interview. Mbonu, a Nigerian-born British citizen who served from 2018 until his resignation in 2023, describes a deeply hostile work environment characterised by pervasive racism, harassment, and bullying. According to Mbonu, his attempts to address these issues were repeatedly ignored or mishandled by prison management, leaving him feeling isolated and victimised. 

He recounts being subjected to racial abuse, slander, and unfair treatment that included being left on probation for 22 months—nearly double the standard period—due to what he believes was racially motivated discrimination.

“It was terrible,” Mbonu told Byline Times, “they treated me like I was not human at times. I came to the UK thinking that this was the motherland of justice and all I have experienced is pain and trauma.”

Mbonu’s situation further deteriorated when his line manager allegedly forged documents to falsely indicate that a meeting had taken place, a forgery that was used to deny him eligibility for a bonus scheme. Even after this forgery was uncovered, Mbonu claims no corrective action was taken. 

These experiences led to severe mental health problems for Mbonu, including stress, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He has taken his case to an Employment Tribunal.

Mbonu’s claims are not isolated. The Prison Reform Trust’s report found similar issues of racism and discrimination are widespread across the prison system. Their report highlights instances of blatant racism, such as a Chinese prisoner being called “China man” and “Chinese virus” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a Muslim prisoner being stereotyped as a terrorist. These accounts reveal not only the overt racist abuse that individuals face but also the more insidious, structural forms of discrimination that are ingrained in the prison system’s culture. 

The report ‘Experiences of minority ethnic employees in prisons’ suggests that the Race Action Programme launched by HMPPS in late 2020 has failed to make significant inroads in tackling these issues, as operational crises and shifting priorities have overshadowed efforts to promote racial equality.

The challenges faced by minority ethnic staff are further elaborated in another briefing by the Prison Reform Trust, which focuses on the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) employees in the prison service. This report reveals that 61% of BME staff reported experiencing direct racial discrimination, often from colleagues rather than prisoners or managers. In addition, two-thirds of BME staff surveyed believed that institutional racism was a problem in their workplace, and many expressed a lack of confidence in the existing procedures for handling complaints about racism.

The lack of effective support networks further compounds these issues. Despite the existence of RESPECT, the minority ethnic staff support network, many BME staff reported receiving no support from this group, their trade unions, or prison management. Instead, they often relied on informal support from colleagues. This lack of formal support and the perceived ineffectiveness of complaint mechanisms have led many staff to choose not to report incidents of racism, fearing retaliation or simply doubting that their concerns would be taken seriously.

A Prison Service spokesperson told Byline Times: “We are determined to stamp out discrimination and have made real progress including increasing diversity training for staff and launching an action plan to tackle racial discrimination and disproportionality across the organisation.”

 “But there is still more to do which is why we are reviewing our approach to data collection, improving discrimination awareness training, and continuing to expand the rehabilitation programmes available to ethnic minority offenders.”

Despite such promises of possible reform, the revelations about the MoJ’s failure to centrally collect data on racism, combined with the firsthand accounts of discrimination from both prisoners and staff like Uzo Mbonu, continue to paint a troubling picture of the current state of race relations within the prison service. 

As Mbonu told Byline Times, “If this issue is not addressed, then how can justice be served?”