By Dominic Casciani BBC News Online community affairs reporter

The Prison Service has "persistently failed" to tackle racism in jails, says the UK's race watchdog.

In a major report, the Commission for Racial Equality said it had found the service had broken race laws 17 separate times.

The breaches include failing to tackle a racist atmosphere in jails, discriminatory treatment of staff, and punishments seemingly based on racial stereotypes.

Prison Service managers persistently failed to tackle racism in their institutions and that very often they also failed to implement their own policies on racial discrimination, abuse and harassment Trevor Phillips

But the watchdog has stopped short of taking legal action, saying the prison service has already agreed to a five-year plan to improve the situation.

Its investigation began in 2000 following the murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham young offenders' institute in west London.

14 areas of failure

In Tuesday's report the CRE said the 14 areas of failure highlighted discrimination against both members of staff and individual prisoners.

ZAHID MUBAREK Murdered in Feltham, March 2000, hours before his scheduled release Cell mate was known racist Race watchdog found catalogue of errors Public inquiry now ordered The murder of Zahid Mubarek

Of the 31 findings in the report, the CRE said 17 of these had been unlawful acts of discrimination, including two by the service as a whole.

The report found prison culture meant staff could easily ignore equality obligations and openly racist attitudes or behaviour had been tolerated.

Ethnic minority staff were found to be working in an atmosphere of racist taunting and risked victimisation if they made complaints.

Prison governors at the three institutions at the heart of the probe - Parc in Wales and Brixton and Feltham in London - failed to tackle racist abuse meted out either by prisoners or staff, concluded the investigation.

The report also found serious concerns with how prison officers exercised their powers of discretion towards some prisoners.

Racial stereotyping

Remarks in some prisoners' records were found to have been made on the basis of racial stereotypes.

And in one example, black inmates were more likely to be targeted for drugs testing than white cellmates.

I accept that across our 130 establishments we have not always done a good job and have sometimes done a bad job. Phil Wheatley Director General of Prison Service

Records at the inspected premises of unofficial "bang-ups" - locking a prisoner in a cell as punishment - suggested the practice was used disproportionately against ethnic minority inmates than white prisoners.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the CRE, said the findings were particularly concerning given that more young black men were currently going to prison than university.

"What's most shocking about this report is that despite numerous wake-up calls, Prison Service managers persistently failed to tackle racism in their institutions.

"Very often they also failed to implement their own policies on racial discrimination, abuse and harassment."

But he said the watchdog was holding back from taking full legal action saying that the money it would spend on this would be better used on an agreed action plan with the Prisons Service.

Phil Wheatley, director general of the Prison Service, said he was personally ashamed and horrified by what the report had found.

He said: "We share the concerns over the scale of the problems that we face.

"I accept that across our 130 establishments we have not always done a good job and have sometimes done a bad job."

Mr Wheatley said staff had been dismissed or retrained since the report began, but he rejected suggestions that the service attracted racists.

'More to be done'

He said the findings were particularly important as two of the prisons - Feltham and Brixton - had become the first without a majority of white prisoners.

RACISM INSIDE: KEY CRITICISMS Prison astmosphere Treatment of staff Treatment of inmates Use of discretionary powers Use of discipline Use of privileges Investigation of complaints

"We are moving [on these issues] but there is a lot more to be done," he said.

The Prison Officers' Association's national chairman, Colin Moses, said he was not surprised by what the CRE had found.

"We have to tackle racist attitudes throughout the service," he said.

"It's not just the officers but also governors.

"There are governors within the service who have a 'tick box' attitude towards tackling racism."