Pioneers Post Opinion: Here's how the tech sector can tackle white supremacy – train and hire prison leavers

Organisations with the funds, power and capacity to create an equal world need to step up to fight racism, says the founder of UK social enterprise Breakthrough. One place to start: in our prisons.

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the world witnessed an outpouring of financial pledges – an estimated $67bn from 271 US corporations alone – to tackle racial injustice. But over two years on, not much has changed.

In the UK the distribution of wealth, access to education and job opportunities remain acutely one-sided, all of which are set to be exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis. Meanwhile, leadership of the world’s most powerful companies continues to be overwhelmingly white and male.

Why, given the momentum behind the #BlackLivesMatter movement, has progress been so fleeting and what can be done to drive lasting impact? 

Pledging funds to charities and training staff on equality, diversity and inclusion, although a step in the right direction, are not enough to deconstruct hundreds of years of systemic oppression overnight. 

To change the system, corporations need to step up. That’s particularly the case for those with significant influence on society, significant resources, or their own prevalent equality issues – like many in the tech sector. 

We know that tech companies want to make a difference and address systemic racism, but struggle to know what steps to take

This is where Breakthrough comes in. We help deconstruct this system of oppression by helping firms hire directly from an institution that has disproportionately impacted people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds: the prison system. 

Breakthrough partners with organisations, such as Assembly Global, KPMG, PwC, Softwire, Zuto and Plaid, who either help deliver our training programmes or hire our graduates. In 2022 we were awarded a significant chunk of funding from the UK government’s £2.5bn National Skills Fund initiative to expand our apprenticeship services.

From the conversations we have, we know that tech companies want to make a difference and address systemic racism, but struggle to know what steps to take. 

To understand why hiring and supporting prison leavers into tech roles could contribute to the solution, we need to explore a few key concepts: white supremacy, the UK’s justice system and the long-term detrimental impact of serving a prison sentence. 

‘White supremacy’ is the legacy of colonialism and slavery

Historically the wealth of the West was built on the back of colonialism and slavery, which saw the resources of Africa and Asia extracted and redistributed across Europe and the US. Alongside a desire to amass wealth and power, this violent extraction of people and resources was often justified by a racist narrative that whiteness was inherently superior.

In the past, the term “white supremacy” described extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis. But now, the term refers to a political and socio-economic system where white people enjoy structural advantages and rights that other racial and ethnic groups do not.

The UK’s justice system is biased

Although slavery is illegal and the empires of the West mostly disbanded, white supremacy is still everywhere. It’s in our schools, our healthcare system, our beauty standards. But one of the most troubling ways white supremacy has manifested is within our prison system.

In the UK, racial bias has led to the disproportionate incarceration of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people. In 2021, although people from these backgrounds made up 13% of the UK’s population, they made up 27% of the people in prison. Some groups are overrepresented in prison – for example, Black people make up around 3% of the general UK population but accounted for 12% of adult prisoners in 2015/16.

Racial bias has led to the disproportionate incarceration of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people

This is a result of a series of complex, intertwining systemic issues that were created by centuries of oppression, as explored in Labour MP David Lammy’s 2017 review of racial bias in the UK’s justice system.

According to the report, the police are more likely to “stop and search” people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, and defendants of these backgrounds are more likely to receive convictions. 

Punished in prison and beyond

The odds of someone who has been to prison having a happy, healthy and fulfilled life are limited.

Statistics from the Office for National Statistics show that male prisoners are 3.7 times more likely to die from suicide than the general public. The average age of death for those in prison is 56 years compared with the wider UK expectancy of 81 years. Meanwhile, the Rough Sleeping in London report showed that a third of people seen rough sleeping in 2015 to 2016 had served time in prison.

Prior to entering the system, many have faced significant hardship – in terms of care, finance and education. 

We currently live in a system that not only punishes people that are already suffering but continues to punish them on release. This inhibits access to opportunities that reduce reoffending and improves quality of life.

This needs to change.

It doesn’t have to be this way

One way to begin to unpick this unjust system is to create an environment that offers the stability and personal development that comes with meaningful, well paid and stable employment. (There are many other ways: removing bias from the justice system and improving access to education, healthcare, nutrition and stable relationships are also essential.)

The hospitality and retail sector has done some amazing work to recruit prison leavers. For example, bakery chain Greggs’ Fresh Start Programme, Pret a Manger’s Rising Star Programme and Timpsons’ Prison Training Academy.

The UK’s tech sector, valued at $1tn, has the infrastructure and budgets to create real structural change

But to deconstruct racism other sectors need to step up. Particularly industries that are not only profitable, have a growing workforce and competitive salaries, but also have clear biases that need addressing – such as tech.

The UK’s tech sector, valued at $1tn earlier this year, has the infrastructure and budgets to create real structural change. Yet, in London, the UK’s tech hub, Black people make up only 3% of the tech workforce despite making up 13% of the capital’s population.

With the average salary starting at £50k and tech roles paying 64% more than the median UK salary, a job in tech offers prison leavers stability and growth opportunities. They could pay rent on time, build financial resilience, and learn desirable skills such as coding, data science and website design.

Although the number of tech vacancies has recently dropped, demand is still high. Meanwhile, studies have shown that prison leavers are often dedicated, loyal and highly resourceful, making them – with the right training and support – great candidates to fill those roles.

Hiring a prison leaver doesn’t have to come at a huge cost. Tech firms can use the UK government’s apprenticeship levy to pay for almost all training. 

Beyond tackling racial injustice, companies can use this strategy to help build more diverse teams, which can improve culture, reduce staff turnover, decrease groupthink, bolster productivity and increase profit.

To disband systems of oppression, organisations with the funds, power and capacity to create an equal world must move beyond educational training sessions to a structure of support that offers a long-term solution.

• Dee Norval is the founder of Breakthrough. To find out more about their work, contact hello@wearebreakthrough.org. Top image: an event hosted by Breakthrough.