Prison officers at a youth jail failed to investigate many allegations of racism because they dismissed them as troublemaking by ethnic minority inmates, a public inquiry has heard.
The former deputy governor of Feltham young offenders institution, Peter Windsor, said allegations of racism were regarded as nothing more than insults by prison staff.
Mr Windsor admitted there was considerable naivety among staff at the jail, where 19-year-old Zahid Mubarek was murdered by his racist cellmate, in their handling of race relations.
Appearing yesterday at the inquiry into the Asian teenager's death, the former deputy governor said staff treated allegations of racism in the same way as prisoners shouting four-letter words out of their cell windows.
There were "probably many" racial incidents that were treated "as just being insulting" and not investigated, he added.
Mr Windsor said prisoners appeared to make accusations of racism against fellow inmates or staff to try to damage their reputation or undermine their authority.
The official Fail blog.
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