AWARD WINNER 2023-24: Anita wins an Award for her game-changing impact – recognised across HMPPS, and praised by the Chief Inspector of Prisons – as Equalities Lead at HMP/YOI Isis, achieved through the remarkable skill and creativity, strength of character, and resolute determination she has brought to the role.
[Anita’s Award is supported by Mitie Care & Custody.]

Anita’s nomination

Initial Recommendation

Anita was initially recommended by: Megan Key (Regional Diversity & Inclusion Lead, London Prison Group).

Anita Tremain is an incredible, passionate advocate for young men at Isis, where the population is 75% BAME and under 25. She is a role model, not only to colleagues across the prison, Equality Managers across London, and me, but to the hundreds of young prisoners she supports every day.

I am recommending Anita for a Butler Trust Award because of her prisoner engagement. Outstanding is her norm. She is creative in how she engages prisoners, going above and beyond, working long hours, working at home and on weekends to lead and deliver an inclusive rehabilitative environment for young men.

Examples of her initiatives include:

• Debate facilitated by Oxford University on International Women’s Day on the role of women in society;
• Staff and Prisoner football matches to commemorate Stephen Lawrence day; prisoners donated money to play;
• MasterChef for prisoners for Black History Month, encouraging prisoners to cook great food and share culture’
• Holi festival paint throwing event, including participation by Governor Emily Thomas;
• Overhauling the Visits Hall with photographs celebrating Gypsy, Romany, Traveller; LGBT, Black History and other cultural visuals to families can see their men are being looked after and respected;
• Negotiating for funding to bring in third partner organisations with lived experience such as Changing The Game and Black Futures to provide prisoners with life skills;
• Arranging a mobile shop for black men to buy grooming products specifically for their hair and skin that can’t be easily sourced from canteen;
• T-shirt and badge making competitions for prisoners during LGBT History Month, when prison data show NOBODY identifies as LGBT in the prison population, with prizes offered; this promoted conversations around sexuality amongst a cohort that typically has negative views of gay men;
• Painted a rainbow crossing in the prison to promote LGBT equality;
• Organised testicular cancer awareness raising events using interesting slogans and humour, sourcing prosthetic aids that the men could feel and touch;
• Photographed many elements of the regime and environment so men who could not speak English or communicate well had visual aids to enable them to ask for what they need, order cultural foods and work better with prison staff.

Anita has single-handedly upheld a robust investigation system for DIRFS (Discrimination Information Reporting Form) resulting in staff, for example, receiving Islamic awareness training, deaf awareness and receiving excellent feedback from an external quality assurance partner, the Zahid Mubarek Trust.

She has consistently provided robust data analysis of prisoner outcomes in terms of Incentives, prisoner jobs, Use of Force, and more – these have been published for prisoners to see and challenge promoting increased levels of trust amongst staff through prisoner council and other forums.

She has led the Equalities strategy, ensuring there is an annual published Diversity Calendar, and supported Senior Leaders to deliver prisoner engagement and upskill in their understanding of prisoner needs.

Going to Isis every month to visit Anita makes me happy, and we work in challenging times. I have been a D&I specialist across Probation, HQ and Prisons for 9 years and the commitment, passion and most of all the steadfast drive to deliver inclusion and support prisoners by Anita is unparalleled.

Testimonials (from HMP Isis)

Anita’s nomination included the following testimonials:

 “From working with Anita, I’ve learned that she’s a genuine individual who genuinely cares about prisoners. She’s always doing things for prisoners that no gov would do. Her work rate and enthusiasm for what she does is unmatched. She’s a lovely person with a lovely personality, I could go on but there’s no point. Not a single bad thing to say about Anita. She always puts 100% into her role and definitely helps everyone where possible, not just within her role but all the surrounding areas too. I’ve been working with her for a long time and even when the odds are stacked against her, she always pulls through and pulls it out of the bag. She deserves all the awards.”
– K

“Anita is one of the most kind-hearted, caring, and selfless people. She’s so good at what she does because she actually cares, she takes her job seriously and actually takes the time to explain the different equalities processes like the DIRFs. As an Equality Rep, she’s a good team leader and the Equalities team is the best team to work for. She actually takes the time to listen and makes us feel like there’s more to life than just prison.”
– R

“Anita is a champion of Equality. She works too hard; she was here at 6am yesterday to set things up [for Pride]! She helped me personally to see inequality and helped me to learn how to stop it as an Equality Rep. She always speaks up in the face of inequality and gives us a voice. She cares about our issues instead of just being there to tick boxes. I’ve been at HMP/YOI Isis for years and before Anita, I didn’t know anything about DIRFs or any ways of raising issues. She has genuinely made a difference at Isis and brings accountability for staff as well.”
– N

“Everyone knows who Anita is. Her work speaks for itself. If you need something she always takes the time to come in person and actually listens and helps us. I’ve been here a few years and I knew about Equalities since day one because of my Equality rep [Adjei]. He helped me know I could actually get help if I needed it and, since I’ve been an Equality Rep, I learned everything I know from [Adjei]. I’ve only been a Rep for 2 weeks and I didn’t know Equalities covered disability as well as race and the other protected characteristics. I have learnt so much since becoming a Rep and its all credit to Anita. Like there’s a guy on my wing who has autism and down syndrome and I’ve been supporting him 1 to 1 as part of my role. I have a lot of empathy for him now.”
– A

“Anita has done so much for travellers at Isis. She always gets you what you need. She really deserves the award. She’s always coming up with new ideas for supporting the GRT community. I’ve been a GRT rep for 4 or 5 months now and I’ve been in quite a lot of prisons and none of them do as much for travellers as Anita.”
– J

“Hello Anita, thank you for giving me a role as Equality Rep, it has been fun and you have been a wonderful staff. Good luck for the future, stay blessed.”
– JO

“Anita’s diversity initiatives in the prison are second to none in my view. Too many to talk about now, but her Stephen Lawrence football matches have been ground-breaking. They’ve offered me a way to build and develop rapport with inmates and staff, and they’ve clearly helped break down barriers between staff and inmates.”
– Jon Preston (NOVUS English outreach)

Additional information (from HMP Isis)

HMP Isis provided the following additional testimony in support of Anita’s nomination:

A recent HMIP inspection (September 2022) identified the equalities work within the prison as the driving force behind the highest score possible to achieve for the area of ‘respect’. Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector, told us that the equalities work within the prison was some of the best he’d seen anywhere.

All that Megan has said in her recommendation is absolutely true. Equalities lives and breathes every day at Isis because of the sheer drive of Anita to always have it at the forefront of our minds through displays, newsletters, events and activities.

Before Anita became Equalities Manager no prisoner used the DIRF system. This is despite the fact that 75% of our population is from a minority ethnic background. Not only do we now receive DIRFs but the quality of the investigation in to them was praised by the Zahid Mubarak Trust. Sean, who carried out the quality check told the Safety meeting that one particular investigation brought him close to tears because it was so sensitively and effectively handled.

Being Equalities Manager is Anita’s job but I think it is quite clear from the recommendation written and the testimonials from the young men Anita works with that is much more than that to Anita. It is a mission. Yet, she works on it with tireless good humour and a sense of joy that engages both prisoners and staff.

The recommendation focuses on the work Anita has done with and for prisoners but she also applies the same energy to staff events; rainbow cake and rainbow juice at the gate for Pride, a full staff quiz for International Women’s Day, food, music and an inspirational speaker for Black History Month, listening circles for black staff, training on identifying sexual harassment for middle managers, awareness sessions on LGBTQI+ issues, mediation between staff and prisoners where discrimination has occurred and a cricket match for South Asian History Month.

In our inspection report, 86% of young men told the inspectors in a survey that they felt safe at Isis. Given the representation of some many minority ethnic groups within this population what is remarkable is that when broken down to different ethnicities, this percentage remained the same. This was true across all of the areas surveyed where normally there is a significantly more negative feeling from prisoners from minority ethnic backgrounds. If anything stands as testament to the work that Anita has done I think it is this. Clear evidence from our young men themselves that they do not feel treated differently based on their protected characteristics.

Sign off

The nomination was signed off by the Governor, Emily Thomas.

It is very difficult to add anything to all of Anita’s achievements without repeating what has already been laid out so eloquently. However, I take this as an opportunity to speak about the difference Anita has made in my prison.

Isis holds 620 young men. 50% of them are Black. 50% are Muslim. They have experienced injustice and discrimination and lack trust in people in uniform. In prison, young men, black men and Muslim men generally experience poorer experiences than their older, white, Christian counterparts. Data and evidence at Isis shows this not to be the case here.

Anita doesn’t just do all the wonderful events and displays and activities described, she analyses data, provides evidence and ensures we act to make changes where outcomes are not what they should be. She puts herself in difficult positions, she challenges senior managers and staff and she demands we do better. We have changed because of Anita, in our attitudes and actions both towards prisoners and staff. We do not pay lip service to equalities on specific days, we consider how we ensure equity daily and we can see the evidence of the difference it makes.

Anita is of mixed White/Asian heritage herself, she speaks from personal experience of discrimination and is a credible messenger. She doesn’t preach, she educates with warmth and compassion. This all comes at personal cost; not just coming in early and staying late but being the face of Equalities, taking criticism and challenge daily from staff who see her work as a threat to them, seeing displays defaced, hearing discriminatory views expressed in training sessions and being blamed when staff face action as a result of her investigations. Anita has weathered it all and she doesn’t have to, it isn’t part of the job description which is why I am so proud of her and why I wholeheartedly commend her to the Butler Trust.