With Age Comes Respect? And for Whom Exactly? A Quantitative Examination of White and BAME Prisoner Experiences of Respect Elicited through HM Inspectorate of Prisons Survey Responses

Through the analysis of survey data, collected by HM Inspectorate of Prisons between 2010 and 2019, we examine the responses of adult male prisoners of different ages and ethnicities and the extent to which they report being treated with respect by staff. Survey responses from 62,664 prisoners support the conclusion that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) prisoners are less likely than white prisoners to report that they are treated with respect; younger prisoners are less likely than older prisoners to do so. Our macro-level findings demonstrate that there is considerable variation between the subgroups within these broad categories and that a simplification of experiences may lead to incorrect assumptions about the experiences of minority groups in prison. These survey data should be used in conjunction with other resources, such as official data and operational statistics, to support detailed examination of prisoner treatment and conditions for safe, decent and rehabilitative prisons.