Report rebukes youth jail

Murder scene: Feltham Young Offenders Institution

A young offenders institution in west London has been severely criticised by an internal Prison Service report following the murder of an Asian inmate.

Zahid Mubarek, 19, was bludgeoned to death by his cellmate Robert Stewart in a racist attack at Feltham Young Offenders Institution.

Stewart, 20, was last week sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

The internal report into what went wrong says Feltham lacked systematic, auditable operating instructions.

Zahid Mubarek was attacked just hours before his release

The report has been given to Mr Mubarek's family, who are calling for an open public inquiry into the case.

'Very dangerous individual'

According to the report, the prison system had not known Stewart was a psychopath. He had never been diagnosed, even though he had been inside several jails for years.

Feltham had not known he had written scores of extremely racist letters, and had failed to monitor his mail.

It had also not heeded Stewart's violent previous record, nor properly checked his security file which warned he was "a very dangerous individual".

But the BBC's community affairs correspondent Geeta Guru-Murthy says it is thought some in the Home Office are reluctant to hold another Stephen Lawrence-style investigation, fearing it would prove politically unpopular.

But the other option, of a private investigation into the prison system by the Commission for Racial Equality, is something the family would seek to legally challenge, she adds.

The family say the government must be open about the catalogue of failings in the prison system, and are seeing ministers about the issue on Monday.