- guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 16 2000 17.06 GMT
Speaking at the annual conference of prison race relations liaison officers, Mr Narey said that he would be willing to face any challenge to his reforms at employment tribunals.
"We have to own up that racism is a big problem for the prison service as recent events at Feltham and Brixton have shown," he said. "This is one of a raft of measures needed to get it right."
The Prison Officers Association backed the measure. "We believe that the eradication of racist behaviour should be at the forefront of the prison service," said Colin Moses, the only black member of the POA's national executive committee.
The director general also announced that he would be abolishing drill from prison officers' basic training with immediate effect and filling the time saved with mental health and race relations instruction.
Mr Narey's announcements come as the commission for racial equality confirmed it would be announcing an investigation into the prison service shortly.
The prisons minister, Paul Boateng, asked the CRE to look into the issue of racism in the service earlier this year following a damning internal report into conditions at Brixton prison.
The remit of the CRE investigation has not been formally determined but is expected to focus on three institutions - Brixton, Feltham young offenders' institution, and one other.
An internal investigation into Feltham revealed by the Guardian following the murder of an Asian prisoner, Zahid Mubarek, by his racist cellmate found evidence of many failings.
