Clinks response: Unequal impact? Coronavirus and BAME people

In this submission, Clinks provides the Women and Equalities Select Committee with additional evidence about the impact of Covid-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people in the criminal justice system.

We highlight the lack of transparency over the number of people in prison and under probation supervision from BAME communities who have tested positive for Covid-19; the impact of the heavily restricted regimes in prison on the mental health and wellbeing of BAME prisoners; and the lack of communication from the government and prison and probation services with BAME-led voluntary organisations delivering support to BAME people in the criminal justice system.

Our response makes a number of recommendations including for the statistics on infections and deaths related to Covid-19 in prison to be broken down by ethnicity and published; for BAME-led organisations to be engaged in efforts to mitigate the disproportionate impact of Covid-19, and the impact of lockdown, on BAME people in the criminal justice system; and for clear action plans to be developed in the recovery planning process for prisons and probation of how the needs of BAME groups will be identified and met.