Race in Prisons

Learning from the past, shaping the future

Tuesday, October 28 · 9am - 5pm GMT | Central London

Exploring the trajectory of race equality in prisons since Zahid’s murder: a national reflection and a bold call to action

In 2025, the 25th anniversary of the racist murder of Zahid Mubarek at HMYOI Feltham was marked through this national conference: a moment of remembrance and reflection.

Zahid was only 19 years old. He was murdered by his racist cellmate on the morning he was due to be released, just hours away from freedom. His death was not only a devastating loss of a young life full of promise, it was a profound betrayal by a system entrusted with his care. The failures that led to Zahid’s murder ran deep: institutional racism, ignored warnings, and catastrophic lapses in risk management, safeguarding, and accountability.

The public inquiry that followed (2003 – 2006) exposed these truths in painful detail. It was meant to be a turning point, a line drawn in history after which such a tragedy could never happen again.

Yet, twenty-five years on, that promise remained unfulfilled. Ethnic minority prisoners continued to face disproportionate punishment, diminished protection, and poorer outcomes. Racial injustice persisted not as an aberration, but as a lived reality embedded across the prison system. For many, Zahid’s story was no longer a shocking exception, but a symbol of a pattern that had never truly been broken.

Founded by Zahid’s family in the aftermath of unimaginable loss, the Zahid Mubarek Trust hosted this landmark conference to honour Zahid’s life and legacy. It brought together those who remembered, those who carried the consequences of systemic failure, and those determined to push for change. The conference created space not only for reflection and grief, but for honesty, challenge, and collective responsibility.

Final Report

 

Conference at a glance

Workshop 1

Where Is Race in Prison Studies? An Academic Reckoning and Rethinking

This workshop will examine the current state of prison research on race, providing a critical review of existing studies that remain relevant to today’s policy and operational challenges. We will identify persistent gaps in the academic literature, particularly around the lived experiences of ethnic minority prisoners and the structural dynamics of institutional racism within the prison system. Through open discussion, we will examine how criminology and academia, more broadly, can play a more active and accountable role in supporting race equality work, shaping not only research agendas but also influencing policy and decision-making within the justice system. This is a call to bridge the divide between knowledge and change, and to place race equality at the heart of prison scholarship and reform.

Workshop 2

Narrating Experiences of Racism: Whose Story Gets Told?

This workshop will examine how narratives about race equality in prison are constructed, disseminated, and contested, both within and beyond the prison walls. It will critically examine who holds the power to define racialised experiences in prison: from official reports and academic research to media portrayals and institutional discourse. By centring the voices and lived realities of racialised prisoners and staff, the session will expose the silences, distortions, and exclusions that shape mainstream understandings of race in the prison system. Participants will reflect on how dominant narratives can reinforce inequality and how alternative or counter-narratives, led by those with lived experience, can challenge stigma, inform policy, and contribute to meaningful reform. Through open dialogue, we will ask: whose stories are told, who tells them, and what changes when we shift the frame?

Workshop 3

Beyond the Walls: Families' Voices for Race Equality in Prisons

This workshop will highlight the vital yet often overlooked role that families and loved ones of ethnic minority people in prison play in exposing injustice, challenging institutional failures, and advocating for change. Drawing on lived experience, grassroots organising, and frontline support work, we will explore how families bear the emotional, cultural, and financial burdens of racial inequality in the prison system and how their insights can drive more humane and equitable policies. By centring their voices, the session will challenge systems that routinely dismiss or marginalise their concerns, and will make the case for meaningful, sustained engagement with families as partners in race equality work. It is time to recognise families not as peripheral observers, but as central actors in the fight for racial equality behind and beyond the prison walls.

Workshop 4

The Cost of Failing to Deliver The Lammy Review in Prisons

Nearly a decade since the publication of The Lammy Review, its central findings and recommendations remain as urgent as ever. However, many of these recommendations have yet to be meaningfully implemented. This workshop will explore the consequences and the human cost of that failure: the deepening mistrust between ethnic minority prisoners and the prison system, the persistence of unequal treatment and outcomes, and the missed opportunity to embed transparency, accountability, and fairness into the prison system. By examining where progress has stalled and why, we will reflect on what is at stake, not just for individuals behind bars, but for wider public confidence in the prison system. The session will call for renewed commitment to The Lammy Review's core principles, elevating the voices of those most affected by institutional inaction, and identifying what must change to turn policy recommendations into lived reality.

Workshop 5

From Words to Action: Reimagining Leadership for Race Equality in Prisons

In an increasingly volatile and challenging prison environment, marked by overcrowding, staff shortages, and rising mistrust and violence, the need for transformative leadership on race equality has never been more urgent. This workshop will explore how those in positions of authority can move beyond rhetoric to take bold, values-driven action that addresses deep-rooted racial disparities within the prison system. Against a backdrop of policy fatigue and operational pressure, leadership on race is often deprioritised or reduced to compliance. This session challenges that status quo, offering space to critically examine what meaningful, anti-racist leadership looks like in practice, especially during times of crisis. Drawing on lived experience, frontline insight, and evidence from within the system, participants will consider how to reimagine leadership as a force for equity, accountability, and lasting change.

Workshop 6

Holding the Line: Challenges of Working in Prisons

Specialist voluntary organisations play a vital role in supporting ethnic minority individuals in prisons. Yet, they often operate on the periphery of the prison system, facing significant structural, financial, and cultural barriers. In a climate of shrinking resources and operational strain, these organisations are being asked to deliver more with less, while maintaining their independence, values, and credibility with the communities they serve. Chronic underfunding, short-term funding, and competitive commissioning processes often disadvantage smaller, specialist organisations led by and for ethnic minority communities. This workshop will explore the layered challenges of restricted access, precarious funding, unequal partnerships, and a lack of voice, and create space to reflect on how specialist organisations can build collective strength, assert their value, and advocate for a more equitable role in championing racial equality in prisons.

Join The Movement

The movement will connect people who care about race equality in prisons: practitioners, prisoners, families, and community advocates.

This is how we turn momentum into movement and movement into change.

This is not a campaign that ends when the spotlight fades.

It is a sustained, living movement grounded in action, partnership, and accountability.

Together, we will ensure that the Manifesto for Race Equality in Prisons is not just implemented but embedded.

Because race equality is not optional.

It is the foundation of justice, and the measure of our collective humanity.

Ready to find out more?

Read more about the movement

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Featured Speakers

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Lord Timpson OBE

Lord Timpson (OBE) was appointed Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending on 5 July 2024. Prior to his appointment he held the position of chief executive of the Timpson Group, from 2002 to July 2024, a company which is known for advocating for the employment of former prisoners. Lord Timpson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2011 for services to training and employment for disadvantaged people. He was made chair of the Employers Forum for Reducing Re-offending (EFFRR) until 2016, and became the chair of the Prison Reform Trust that same year.

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Imtiaz Amin

Imtiaz is the uncle of Zahid Mubarek and founder of the Trust. Imtiaz changed his career path to become a spokesperson for the Mubarek family and pursue answers following the death of his nephew. As Co-director Imtiaz is currently leading the charity’s delivery and support work engaging with prisoners, families and prison leavers. Imtiaz has vast expertise in working with policy and decision-makers as a spokesperson for the Mubarek family (2000 – 2008) and as a Chief Executive Officer for the Trust (2009 – 2019).

More information

At the Zahid Mubarek Trust, we are committed to ensuring our conference remains accessible for people particularly for the families and people with lived experience of the criminal justice system. Tickets will be available for purchase until 16th October 2025.

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