I aim to critically assess racism experienced and perpetuated by prisoners and staff. I will also look at the efforts that have been made to address it within the prison system.
People often use both terms race and ethnicity. The difference is that race is biological, whereas ethnicity is social. "Ethnicity is used to describe social groups believed or perceived to differ from other social groups in terms of various possible characteristics including geographical origin, language, cultural traditions and religion, among many other things. However, much of the time some fairly broad categories are used such as white, black, Asian etc." (Newburn, pg772).
In terms of looking at racism within prisons the term 'race ' tends to come up quite …show more content…
The results they found were that '31% of black prisoners were concerned about prisoner and staff relationships. ' '82% of white prisoners were worried about racial prejudice amongst prisoners. ' They found that there was a hierarchy in prison/pecking order, and the study found that black prisoners were stereotyped in a negative way, compared to Asians seen as role model prisoners. The study also found that the staff treated minorities differently in relation to punishments and rewards.
So what are some of the explanations for racism in prisons both by prisoners and the prison staff? Again (Scott and Codd, 2009) look at different explanations. They look at the 'Bad apple ' perspective, the individual pathology. This can be police officers/prison officers and even the other inmates who have bad attitudes towards different groups. They look at institutional racism, this is when the institution has a system of inequality on the bases of race. State racism, this looks at the treatment of foreign nationals in …show more content…
Ensure staff members receive the correct training before starting the job and that all their training is up to date. This helps as all staff members will be up to sate on policies introduced and can deal with racial behaviour appropriately. There needs to be a zero tolerance policy. Another recommendation is to mix the ethnic minorities within prisons. Instead of being in groups and segregating away from each other, by mixing the ethnics together means that this could help bring down the barriers in regards to racist behaviour, as they would start to understand and learn more about each
People often use both terms race and ethnicity. The difference is that race is biological, whereas ethnicity is social. "Ethnicity is used to describe social groups believed or perceived to differ from other social groups in terms of various possible characteristics including geographical origin, language, cultural traditions and religion, among many other things. However, much of the time some fairly broad categories are used such as white, black, Asian etc." (Newburn, pg772).
In terms of looking at racism within prisons the term 'race ' tends to come up quite …show more content…
The results they found were that '31% of black prisoners were concerned about prisoner and staff relationships. ' '82% of white prisoners were worried about racial prejudice amongst prisoners. ' They found that there was a hierarchy in prison/pecking order, and the study found that black prisoners were stereotyped in a negative way, compared to Asians seen as role model prisoners. The study also found that the staff treated minorities differently in relation to punishments and rewards.
So what are some of the explanations for racism in prisons both by prisoners and the prison staff? Again (Scott and Codd, 2009) look at different explanations. They look at the 'Bad apple ' perspective, the individual pathology. This can be police officers/prison officers and even the other inmates who have bad attitudes towards different groups. They look at institutional racism, this is when the institution has a system of inequality on the bases of race. State racism, this looks at the treatment of foreign nationals in …show more content…
Ensure staff members receive the correct training before starting the job and that all their training is up to date. This helps as all staff members will be up to sate on policies introduced and can deal with racial behaviour appropriately. There needs to be a zero tolerance policy. Another recommendation is to mix the ethnic minorities within prisons. Instead of being in groups and segregating away from each other, by mixing the ethnics together means that this could help bring down the barriers in regards to racist behaviour, as they would start to understand and learn more about each