UK: Asian youth killed at Feltham YOI
01 March 2000
A 19-year old Asian youth, Zahid Mubarek, was battered to death at Feltham Young Offenders Institution in West London on March 23. Zahid, from Walthamstow, east London, was found in his cell suffering from serious head injuries after an attack that was motivated by racism. He died the following day in hospital. A white inmate, Robert Stewart, has been charged with murder, but Zahid's parents have asked why their son was placed in the cell with a racist who had earlier threatened him. The Prison Service's director general, Martin Narey, has admitted that the Service failed to protect Zahid, who was at the end of three month sentence for a minor offence. In a letter to the family he frankly wrote: "You had a right to expect us to look after Zahid safely, and we failed."
The Mubarek family, with their legal representatives and supporters, met with Minister of State, Paul Boateng, in April to highlight their concerns and request a public inquiry into Zahid's murder. Suresh Grover, of the National Civil Rights Movement, commented: "This case is a litmus test on how the government and prison authorities deal with racism in prisons and young offenders institutions. If the minister listens to the concerns of the Mubarek family and orders the inquiry then this may be an important step towards improving the situation for other black and Asian prisoners."
Feltham YOI has been condemned over the past decade for the bullying and intimidation suffered by prisoners. During 1991 an independent report by the Howard League concluded that the institution "should no longer exist in its present condition" after four youths were found hanged within an eight month period. A "highly critical" inspection of the centre by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in 1996 considered the "depths" into which the institution had sunk and made 180 recommendations, including two on race relations. The Inspectorate's latest report (based on a visit in September 1999) notes that the first of these, that "Young offenders's and juveniles should be represented on the Race Relations Management Team" still has not been implemented. The second recommendation, that "The number of staff from ethnic minority, especially Afro Caribbean, backgrounds should be increased", has only been partially implemented. Nonetheless, the upgrading of security measures and the installation of CCTV cameras persuaded the Inspectorate to give the institution a "clean bill of health".
A report, published in May, by the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO) indicates the extent of the problem in prisons. The NACRO survey records that prison officers believe that race relations within prisons are "good" despite three attacks a day taking place on black and Asian prisoners. 27% of black prisoners and 49% of Asian inmates said that they had been subjected to racially motivated verbal abuse, while 12% of both black and Asian inmates said that they had suffered a racially motivated physical assault by another prisoner or member of staff. Only 7% of all prisoners had reported any racial incident. Following the publication of the report the Prison Service announced that "new procedures for reporting racist incidents" will be announced; a new governor, William Payne, was appointed to run the institution on 8 May. The National Civil Rights Movement held a public meeting, "Behind Closed Doors: racism in Prisons and Detention Centres", to address the growing problem of racism from prison officers and prisoners on 1 June. For further information phone 020 8843 2333.
"Report on a short unannounced inspection of HM Young Offender Institution and Remand Centre Feltham, 28-30 September" HM Inspectorate of Prisons (Home Office) 2000; "Race and prisons: a snapshot survey" NACRO (May) 2000; HM Prison Service press releases 5.5.00, 9.5.00