The jail has made improvements recently

The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has been examining the circumstances surrounding the death of Zahid Mubarek, 19, at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution in west London in March 2000.

But the solicitor for Mubarek's family, Dan Rubenstein, has attacked the CRE's report as flawed and inadequate.

He said it left them "none the wiser why a racist psychopath could share a cell with a man due to be released the next day".

And Imtiaz Amin, Mubarek's uncle, said the family feared the report would harm their legal challenge to force the Home Secretary to hold a public inquiry.

Mubarek, from Walthamstow, east London, was a first-time criminal sentenced to three months for theft and was due for release when he was murdered by skinhead Robert Stewart.

Zahid Mubarek died because of a combination of Robert Stewart's racism and failures by the Prison Service to provide him with appropriate protection Trevor Phillips, Commission for Racial Equality

Stewart, from Hattersley in Greater Manchester, was known to prison officers as "Spliffy" and later identified as a psychopath.

At his trial it emerged that he had sent racist letters to friends.

Stewart is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.

The CRE said "systematic failures" in prison procedures failed to spot Mubarek would be in danger.

Trevor Phillips, chair of the CRE, described the 19-year-old's death as a "moment of shame for the Prison Service".

"Zahid Mubarek died because of a combination of Robert Stewart's racism and failures by the Prison Service to provide him with appropriate protection.

Zahid Mubarek was killed by a racist cellmate

"I am convinced that had Zahid been white, he would not have died."

He said Stewart's security file detailing his violent history was not read, he was not seen by a doctor or a psychiatrist and racist letters were either not read by prison staff or ignored.

Mr Phillips said the Prison Service and Feltham had 20 areas of failure all the way from screening new inmates through to how staff react in a serious incident.

"Each of the 20 failures allowed Robert Stewart to progress towards his murderous destination.

"Had any of them been dealt with this killing would probably have been avoided", he said.

Mubarek's family believe they have been let down by a "serious breach of trust by the CRE".

'Tragic death'

Mr Amin said: "It's two and a half years since Zahid's death. It's not got any easier for the family.

"We feel we have been excluded by the CRE and therefore it has not produced a satisfactory report."

For its part, the CRE says it twice contacted the family asking it give evidence on specific points they had raised in the media.

Mr Phillips defended the CRE's decision not to place a legal notice against the Prison Service which would order it to carry out change.

Instead, the CRE and the new Prison Service director general, Phil Wheatley, will be working to improve the situation.

"I recognise, like my predecessor did immediately, that the tragic death of Zahid Mubarek was a result of a failure by the Prison Service to protect him," Mr Wheatley said.

"We want to work at the very best level so that we send people back into society without yet another grievance against something they may see as a 'white authority system'."

Feltham Young Offenders' Institution was once described as "one of the worst" jails in the prison system by former prisons chief inspector Sir David Ramsbotham.

It was plagued by reports of "Dickensian" conditions, racism and violence.

However, an assessment last year found that it had vastly improved.

Feltham takes juveniles aged 15 to 17 and young offenders aged 17 to 21 from more than 120 courts.