The Prison Mirror: How Systemic Prejudice Paints a Stark Picture of Marginalisation
Walthari Nikolaj
Educator, Artist, Playwright & Journalist | ADHD Advocate | Experiential Advisor at The Wise Group | Passionate about Social Impact, Social, Political and Prison Reform, & Empowering Communities. Changemaker.
If incarceration rates reflected societal demographics, there would be over 9,000 fewer Black prisoners, according to the Prison Reform Trust.
By Walthari Nikolaj, Journalist with Lived Experience, Saying it how it is!
The Prison Mirror: How Systemic Prejudice Paints a Stark Picture of Marginalization
Prisons are a crucible where systemic prejudice and marginalization become unmistakably visible. The stark statistical truths within the prison population in England and Wales expose the deep-rooted inequities embedded in our society. What emerges from this examination is not merely a reflection of criminal behaviour but a damning indictment of a system that marginalizes vulnerable groups, fueling cycles of injustice. The prison system, tasked with rehabilitation, must first rehabilitate itself to confront the biases it perpetuates and address the social inequalities it amplifies. A system can't stand for equality and say it is not prejudicial when it blatantly is.
The Overrepresentation of Marginalised Groups
A brief glance at prison demographics reveals the alarming overrepresentation of marginalized groups. Black people, for example, constitute only 3% of the UK population, yet they make up 13% of the prison population in England and Wales. If incarceration rates reflected societal demographics, there would be over 9,000 fewer Black prisoners, according to the Prison Reform Trust.
The plight of Irish Travellers is equally stark. Despite comprising a mere 0.1% of the general population, they account for 6% of men and 7% of women in English and Welsh prisons. Irish Travellers face widespread discrimination both within and outside the justice system, exacerbating their alienation and compounding their challenges.
These figures are not anomalies—they are the product of systemic prejudice. They reveal a justice system that disproportionately targets and punishes marginalized communities while failing to address the societal conditions that contribute to crime.
Disabilities, Neurodiversity, and Neglect
The overrepresentation of marginalized groups extends beyond race and ethnicity. The Ministry of Justice found that 36% of prisoners serving sentences between one month and four years have a disability, a rate nearly double that of the general population. Among these, neurodiverse conditions like ADHD are prevalent, with 25%–30% of prisoners estimated to have the condition, and another 30 % or more without a diagnosis... that's 55 - 60% which is approximately 20 times the prevalence in the community.
It is the criminalisation of disability in the UK, something we have done in the UK for centuries.
Despite this, support for neurodiverse individuals in prisons remains inadequate. Screening for ADHD is "patchy, if it happens at all," and rehabilitation programs rarely address the unique needs of individuals with disabilities or neurodiverse conditions. The result is a system that criminalizes vulnerability rather than supporting it, perpetuating cycles of crime and reoffending.
Corruption: A Barrier to Accountability
Layered over these systemic biases is the issue of corruption within the prison system itself. Reports of bribery, abuse of power, and misconduct by prison staff underscore a lack of accountability. Vulnerable groups, including marginalised ethnicities and those with disabilities, are disproportionately affected.
The disparity in how discrimination reports are handled is telling: 76% of discrimination reports submitted by staff are upheld, compared to just 1% of prisoner-submitted reports against staff. This imbalance highlights a system more interested in protecting its own than addressing the injustices within its walls.
A System of Symptoms, Not Solutions
Prisons, as they currently operate, are a reflection of societal failures. They house those who have been systematically marginalised—by race, ethnicity, disability, and socioeconomic status. This marginalisation begins long before incarceration and continues within the prison walls, where violence and self-harm are on the rise. In the year leading up to March 2024, self-harm incidents increased by 24%, and assaults rose by 27%.
Rather than addressing the root causes of crime, the system often reinforces them. It fails to rehabilitate because it is a product of the same prejudices and inequities that drive crime in the first place. The justice system is not separate from society’s biases; it is a symptom of them.
Rehabilitation Begins with the System Itself
For the prison system to truly fulfill its mission of rehabilitation, it must first rehabilitate itself. This requires a fundamental rethinking of how justice is administered and who it serves. Key steps include:
The Mirror We Cannot Ignore
The statistics from the prison system are more than numbers; they are a mirror reflecting the prejudices and inequities of our society. Prisons concentrate marginaliaed groups in one place, making the systemic injustices they face impossible to ignore. Yet, society too often looks away, accepting these disparities as a natural byproduct of crime and punishment.
It is time to confront the uncomfortable truths these numbers reveal. The prison system must evolve from a symptom of societal bias into a force for justice and equity. This transformation requires not just reforms within prisons but a commitment to addressing the root causes of marginalization in society itself. Only then can we begin to break the cycles of injustice that have defined the system for far too long.