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Racist Abuse of Prisoners

John Bowden | 22.12.2005 13:29 | Anti-racism | Repression | Birmingham | World

The disproportionate imprisoning of young black people has always been an inevitable result of a criminal justice system inbuilt at every level with racist attitudes and an antipathy towards the black working class community.

The disproportionate imprisoning of young black people has always been an inevitable result of a criminal justice system inbuilt at every level with racist attitudes and an antipathy towards the black working class community. The facts speak for themselves; whilst black people make up just 2 per cent of the total population in England and Wales, black inmates make up more than 14 per cent of the total prison population.

The Home Offices own statistics for Feb 2003 showed that 16 per cent of all male prisoners are black and 25 per cent of all female prisoners were from the black population. The reality of life inside prison for black inmates is a continuation of the racist treatment many of them have experienced at the hands of the police and courts, although in the hidden world of prison that treatment often takes on an especially vicious and brutal quality. Whilst most black prisoners experience some form of overt discrimination at the hands of an overwhelmingly white prison staff, the very worst treatment is reserved for those who possess the courage and determination to resist and openly complain about the racist behavior of those managing and running the prisons. The experience of those black prisoners labeled "difficult" and "subversive" is truly horrendous and filled with frequent physical brutality, long stays in solitary confinement and endless transfers, usually to prisons geographically remote and inaccessible to friends and family. The situation of those black prisoners who confront the racism of their jailers is infinitely more life threatening than that experienced by any other group of prisoners and requires extraordinary courage and fortitude.

The predicament of Sean Higgins, a young mixed race prisoner from Birmingham, typifies the sort of treatment dished out to black prisoners perceived by staff as "upperty" and unreasonably proud, and also the collusion of senior prison management is the vicious repression of defiant black prisoners. In the Autumn of 2005 the anti-racist organization Black Britain was contacted by a white ex-prisoner, John McGranagham, who told them that Sean Higgins, then in the punishment block at Frankland jail in Durham, was being brutalized by prison officers and feared for his life. Mr McGranagham said he believed that Sean's treatment was motivated by racism and asked Black Britain to begin asking questions of the prison department on Sean's behalf. After contacting Sean's lawyer, Vicky King, who confirmed that Sean had been frequently assaulted and injured by prison staff, Black Britain made contact with Sean himself who described a catalog of abuse and maltreatment at the hands of racist prison staff, all of it is verified with medical reports and photographs and legal statements.

Sean said that in 1999 while in Swaleside Prison in Kent several officers entered his cell, subjected him to racist verbal abuse and then physically attacked him, during which they tried to tie a home made noose around his neck in a mock lynching fashion. He said "I was beaten to such an extent the police, when they eventually came, refused to accept custody of me, insisting I be taken to the hospital first". The attack on him at Swaleside was one of many and was always provoked by his personal complaints of staff racism and adamant refusal to be silent and acquiescent in the face of it.

In the notorious Full Sutton segregation unit, a place where violence against prisoners has become an integral part of the regime, he was badly beaten after complaining about racist abuse, and then charged with assaulting prison staff, who required a justification for "restraining" him so violently. He was subsequently acquitted at Hull Crown Court. The jury's verdict in the case supported Sean's defense that he had been the victim of racist and physical abuse at Full Sutton. They found that he had acted in lawful self-defense when attacked by prison staff. When Sean again complained of racist abuse whilst in the segregation-unit at Frankland jail in September 2005 he was systematically beaten up by staff, who then inevitably made a counter allegation that he had attacked them without the slightest provocation. Sean is now pursuing a civil action against the prison dept for damages. The treatment of Sean Higgins typifies the reaction of the prison system to black prisoners who defiantly resist racism behind bars and is indicative of a whole culture of racism that permeates the prison system from the top to bottom.

Solicitor Dan Rubenstein, whose firm specializes in prison litigation, has claimed that a strong culture of racism exists not just amongst basic grade prison officers but also within higher management of the prison dept. According to Mr Rubenstein the prison dept is notoriously slow in responding to letters detailing claims on behalf of prisoners. He says "They have never taken less than four months to respond". He describes follow up action by the system into complaints of racial discrimination as being "very patchy indeed", and believed that higher management have been directly involved in racially discriminatory actions. He also claims that black prisoners who have made complaints of racial discrimination were constantly transferred; he added: "instead of the grievance being dealt with there and then they just pass the "problem" onto someone else".

Felix Martin, ex-prisoner and chair of the Prisoners Race Discrimination Unit, told Black Britain that although complaints of racist abuse in prison were high they were probably the tip of an iceberg and unreflective of the true number - "A lot of black prisoners don't bother to report it and just learn to live with it", he said. Mr Martin said that racism in prisons takes many forms and vary from being given small portions of food in the canteen to receiving a behavior warning for pressing a cell buzzer to request a phone call. He said: "Some officers come out with racial insults and there are ones who really bully and pick on certain inmates. When a black prisoner decides to make a complaint that's when it turns into open warfare and the victimization comes pouring in".

The Commission For Racial Equality's 2003 report stated that: "Some prison staff discourage or prevent prisoners from making race complaints" and those who plucked up the courage to speak out against discrimination "were punished or victimized for making the complaint".

However, whilst many welcomed the CRE'S investigation there remains widespread criticism of the government's reluctance to instigate prosecutions against prison staff identified as perpetrators of racist behavior. Following the publication of the of the CRE'S report, instead of seeking justice for black and ethnic minority prisoners who had been victims of racism within the prison system, the CRE joined forces with the government to implement an "action plan for reform", that includes a proposal to appoint prison officers as "mediators" of racial conflict in prison! Felix Martin said "This is a perfect way of ensuring that everything stays inside and nothing gets out. This proposal if implemented, will set the prison system back twenty years". Instead he recommends that prisons be "purged" of racism by legally empowering prisoners and making the system far more accountable. Another important way of challenging racism in prisons is to highlight and support the struggle of prisoners like Sean Higgins, who has remained isolated for years and able to call only on his own courage and endurance in his struggle against racist and violent prison officers tacitly backed up by the whole power structure of the prison system.

It took an ex-prisoner, John McGranagham, a man who spent over a decade in prison for crimes he did not commit*, to highlight the treatment of Sean Higgins and encourage others to get involved in supporting Sean. It is a political and personal duty of all genuine anti-racists to support those on the inside who are engaged in what is often a life and death struggle against vicious state racism of the worst kind.

John Bowden

*Mr McGranagham's life sentence conviction was quashed at the Court Of Appeal in October 1991 and is an accepted miscarriage of justice.

Anyone wishing to contact Black Britain can do so with the information below:

The Colorful Network

The Colorful Network, Culvert House, Culvet Road, London SW11 5AP, England
Tel: 020 7498 4020
Fax: 020 7498 5757
Email:  Helper@colourfulnetwork.net

John Bowden
- e-mail: mail@brightonabc.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.brightonabc.org.uk

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

it ain't that simple though is it?

22.12.2005 15:12

Except - can you talk meaningfully about race without refering to gender, class, and culture;after all the Multicultural project was divise and racist in inself helping to divide people of different cultures ( including poor whites with their identity problems ) whilst making a good little earner for those who would play ball - poiliticians and poverty pimps, pretend social housing eg the pricks who run Ujima,which is supposed to be social housing for afro-carribeans but is another overpriced dodgy association. This has lead to racism between ethnic minorities amongst other things.There are problems just looking through a statistical prism of young Anglo-Jamaican (?) males. ( and it is always 'males' of whatever colour...) We could go onto the high incidence of mental illness of males in cultures with a STRONG element of homophobia running throughout ( Irish, Nigerian, and Jamaican again spring to mind first of all- I recall an argument I had with a female Nigerian solicitor who was appalled at how liberal this country is with respect to homosexuals... ). Is there a connection there? Is there a connection between machismo, materialism and late-stage capitalism? There arer plenty of dots to join up here.The backlash against feminism over the past few years ( again -feminism was an issue hijacked by middle class punters who managed to alienate wortking classwomen around the globe - with the help of M15, I believe and a certain 'Centre'....)

There are some opther statistics I have refrained ( and so have you ) from discussing on Indymedia , though should be perhaps put in some context ( the problem being they are often used by the right and assorted biggots).

It is a shame because in the UK there is rascism ( Hello Mr Jaspers you lying overpaid moron ), sexism,homphobia and greed coming from all directions and it isn'[t being adressed with any context, balance,or honesty.

Sarah


Letter from Sean Higgins to Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

22.12.2005 17:08

For over a year now I have been having my copy of your informative news-sheet denied to me by Whitemoor, Full Sutton and Frankland under the guise that it had not ordered it via recognised prison channels. Then out of the proverbial blue at Frankland, I received October’s edition and I feel obliged to send thanks to you all for your continual solid solidarity towards prisoners, such as myself, who value a real alternative perspective in contract so the right win/fascist media exploitation of both world and local event. Although The Guardian newspaper may offer lukewarm or vague left wing viewpoints, I’ve found it is only your group’s editorials that remain eye-openingly shit hot with methodical precision time and time again. As with many black prisoners, local and world-wide, I stem from a background on of innercity urban grime, which led to years of incarceration and ongoing hardship. Over the years I have both tolerated and suffered at the hands of the penal system, which along with your group’s orientation has inspired my studies into basic sociology in an attempt to grasp an overstanding as to the hows and whys of the way of things.

It was not until, whilst in a block/hole, someplace that I realised I had been conditioned into wearing blinkers, accepting as the norm my typical cycle of ghetto-prison-ghetto, as with so many of my peers, ie black males from poor inner-city communities. Now I am but 200 days from overdue release, I’d like to take this opportunity to urge other black prisoners within this fascist system to also study the way of things in resistance towards this system’s implementation of what is now the stereotypical cycle of black male mindset. An imposed mindset that I can only describe as one of mental slavery. I believe there are but two options open to those of us who cannot force ourselves to digest the imperialists' pill: 1) find religion 2) actively struggle for revolution. And while I can respect the religious path of acceptance, a maxim my Irish grandfather once told me springs to mind: ‘God won’t put food on the table’. The social downslide of our communities within inner-city urban environments (ghettos) will only cease when we, as a collective, black and white alike, gain a foothold via overstanding the root causes of capitalist instigated social decay. Learned overstanding is the first step towards enlightened liberation (know your enemy). Take it upon yourselves while imprisoned to become politically aware before opting for a course of action. If you have not decided on a solution you are part of the problem! Books are available via FRFI if your prison library has (limited) intended scope! But I urge you to respect the fact that donations are much needed to maintain the provision of books.

I have found that many of my black friends in the prisons system have no knowledge that any alternative to the imperialist media diatribe exists, such is the depth of conditioning inflicted upon us from inner-city urban ghettos. It burns my soul when I see the increased influx of, predominantly young, black prisoners who are caught up in the dead end cycle eliminating from our communities. More so when I realize how many don’t even know it, or worse are resigned to accepting of the status quo. Ditto to all you Muslim readers – your countries are being bombarded, invaded and pillaged, your civil liberties disregarded and abused; you may even end up as a victim of shoot-to-kill. So, while you are struggling, remember that all the above has been the case for black people for centuries. We are all victims of the ‘new world order’ agenda of globalisation/domination. A world where individuals and ideologies are downtrodden and the betterment of humanity as a whole is put on the back burner. We must resist or become reshaped into imperialist abnormality.

I leave you with a pearl from Mao – give up illusion; prepare for struggle! Again, many thanks to all at FRFI for your continual support for prisoners.

In struggle with solidarity
Sean Higgins VA 3977, HMP Wakefield

NB – Sean is now at Strangeways

NJ


Reply to Sarah

23.12.2005 01:45

I agree with a lot of what you say about the issue of race and class and how it affects society and in this case the prison system. Also, I agree that feminism has been corrupted through middle class influence and by the secret services, and that multiculturalism was designed to head off black revolt by creating a black middle class (eg Trevor Philips, Lee Jasper, et al). However, the bulk of the prison system is still made up of white, working class males, so as always social class is the over-riding factor. A few other points about your post:

"can you talk meaningfully about race without refering to gender, class, and culture"

I think that when talking about the prison system, gender is completely irrelevant given that about 90% of prisoners are male. Additionally, men receive on average longer sentences/ more harsh judgements than women for equal offences.

"and it is always 'males' of whatever colour"

Does this mean that you think women are not racist? Because clearly you would be sorely mistaken. Or do you mean that it's usually men who end up fighting one another when there is racial tension?

"Is there a connection between machismo, materialism and late-stage capitalism?"

I doubt it or that would mean that all the highly paid proffesional women of the modern day (doctors, lawyers, former PM's, business women, etc) are exhibiting machismo. I don't think that capitalism and patriarchy are explicitly linked. (eg. there are now more young women millionaires than men, and more women trainee doctors and lawyers than men).

"There are some other statistics I have refrained from discussing"

I assume you are referring to the fact that crime is carried out disproportionately by black people. You can account for this by the fact that black people are more likely to be poor or working class in general, due to prejudice in society, and therefore are more likely to turn to crime in order to make money. Over decades this has led to a culture of glorifying criminal activity which exacerbates the problem. The origin of this culture, like so much of the evil in the world was the USA.

Regarding the racist abuse and violent assault of Sean Higgins by prison officers, I think it is a disgrace. It is a sad indictment of how little the prison system has changed since New Labour came to power. I would hope that these prison officers will one day get what they deserve.

Uncle Joe


Some interesting websites

23.12.2005 09:53

Recent report on inequalities:

 http://www.iwca.info/news/news0070.htm

IWCA homepage:

 http://www.iwca.info/

Article about failure of multiculturalism:

 http://www.redaction.org/news/june_04.html#19_06_04

Red Action homepage:

 http://redaction.org/

Uncle Joe


Reality Check

26.12.2005 13:11

The disproportionate imprisoning of young black people has always been an inevitable result of their disproportionate involvement in certain types of criminal offences that involve violence to the person, and where jail time is the automatic minimum sentencing option.. for example street robbery. This has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with the culture of the ghetto. Young black urban males need to dissassociate themselves from gangster culture and then we will see a reduction in the number of young black males arrested.
You don't afterall see a disproportionate ammount of young black females arrested do you?!

Paulos


Erm, Paulos learn to fucking read before you type

26.12.2005 16:02

 http://www.nbbpsg.co.uk/stats.php

A massivley disproportianate number of black women are in prison.

Dickhead.

Sim1