Race in prisons
Last week (13 February 2026) the Zahid Mubarek Trust (ZMT) published the final report from its National Conference : “Race in Prisons: Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future”. I was fortunate enough to attend the day (and be asked to write the conference report). Racism in prison is one of the most intransigent problems we face.
his intransigence was brought home to everyone in the introduction to the day by Imtiaz Amin, Zahid Mubarek’s uncle and co-director of the ZMT. Imtiaz spoke movingly of the work of the ZMT as a journey of healing as well as a mission for justice. He said that the Trust is fully committed to honour Zahid’s legacy by making an impact on racial injustices in prison. Imtiaz made the scale of the challenge for racial equality in prison only too clear when he described the 2020 murder of Sundeep Ghuman by his racist cellmate at Belmarsh prison, in circumstances distressingly similar to Zahid Mubarek’s murder, 20 years earlier.
Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future
The Conference marked the 25th anniversary of the murder of 19-year-old Zahid Mubarek by his racist cellmate on the morning of his release from Feltham Young Offender Institution. The conference had five main aims:
- To honour the legacy of Zahid Mubarek with a moment of reflection.
- To highlight current challenges and opportunities for addressing racial inequality in prisons.
- To amplify the voices of the lived experiences of ethnic minority prisoners, staff and families.
- To create space for collaboration in tackling racial inequality in prisons.
- To inspire leadership which prioritises race equality as integral to safety rehabilitation and reducing reoffending.
The conference was attended by 227 delegates and was characterised by their passion and commitment to campaign for improved race equality in prisons.
Areas of focus
In addition to a number of keynote speeches, the conference was enriched with a series of six workshops which combined multiple presentations with the opportunity for delegates to engage in debate. These workshops focused on the following key issues:
- Why is race absent from prison studies?
- The cost of failing to deliver the Lammy Review in prisons
- Families’ voices for race equality in prisons
- How the experiences of racism are told in prison
- Reimagining leadership for race equality in prisons
- Holding the line: challenges of working in prisons
You can find short summaries of these workshops in the report.
Conclusions
In the words of ZMT’s Directors, the conference confirmed what many already knew but too often feel powerless to say:
when it comes to race equality in prisons, there is not a knowledge gap.
We all know far too well what the problems have been for the past few decades. The evidence (both academic and lived experience) of racial inequality in prisons is overwhelming and longstanding. Disparities in use of force, segregation, adjudications, access to opportunity, progression, and trust are well documented.
Recommendations from inquiries, inspections, and reviews already exist. What we face is an implementation gap. What has been missing is sustained courageous leadership, expert-led external challenge, and collective accountability from the prison system.
They described how initial determination to tackle racism in prison in the wake of Zahid’s death has faded:
Over time, that urgency faded. Race equality became absorbed into broader agendas, managed rather than led, referenced rather than enforced.
They conclude that progress is only possible with sustained pressure, accountability, and independent challenge.
A call to action
What made the conference so inspiring was that it balanced all the evidence of racism in prisons (against people in prison and staff) with examples of positive change. The message that together we can make a difference was cemented with a relaunch of both a Manifesto on Race Equality in Prisons and a Movement for Race Equality in Prisons.
The Movement has a number of key principles:
- We stand together: practitioners, people with lived experience, families, and communities, united by a shared belief that every person in prison deserves fairness, dignity, and respect.
- We recognise that racial inequality continues to shape the experiences and outcomes of too many people in the prison system. We will not look away.
- We commit ourselves to highlighting inequalities, challenging discrimination, and working together to create environments where everyone is treated with humanity and decency.
- We believe that true change comes through listening: to lived experience, to those most affected, and to each other.
- We will use our voices, our positions, and our influence to make equality a lived reality, not just a policy or a promise.
- We will celebrate leadership that is fair and courageous.
- We will hold ourselves and others accountable when standards fall short. And we will build relationships across divides: between staff and prisoners, between prisons and communities, grounded in respect, trust, and shared purpose.
The Zahid Mubarek Trust emphasises that the movement is for everyone, whatever their race, irrespective of their connections to the prison system. It welcomes everyone into a broad alliance of people who care about race equality in prisons.
You can join here: thezmt.org/join-the-movement
