Racially-marginalised Men’s Experiences of Prison in the United Kingdom: A Systematic Literature Review.

Research has continuously demonstrated social disadvantage, racial inequality, and institutional racism within a broad range of domains including, socioeconomic status, education, healthcare, and the criminal justice system. This has led to racially-marginalised men being over-represented within the prison population. The aim of this systematic literature review was to consider: What are racially-marginalised men’s experiences of prison in the United Kingdom? A systematic literature search was conducted to review papers relevant to the research question. The review brought together the findings of 10 studies and used thematic synthesis to examine the current experiences of racially-marginalised men. From the synthesis there were three main themes: i) feeling powerless in a powerful system, ii) racism and iii) feeling disconnected from cultural identity. The racially-marginalised men experiences of these three aspects led to isolation and alienation, and impacted on the support they received in prison, with this directly linked to rehabilitation. Recommendations are provided including the dismantling of racist policies and practices to embed antiracist practices and meaningfully co-producing solutions for reform.