The findings were included in The Prison Service's Race Review 2008 detailing progress in the organisation.
Phil Wheatley, director general for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), said: "While the action we have taken over the past five years has generated substantial improvements, there is still more to do and we are not complacent."
Justice minister Shahid Malik added: "In moving forward, I want to see the Prison Service - both nationally and locally - continuing to work co-operatively with partner organisations, building on the solid foundations already laid to tackle the challenges that lie ahead."
But the Equality and Human Rights Commission has welcomed the "honest and rigorous way" the Prison Service has addressed race equality in prisons - including inviting their critics, such as the Commission, to judge progress for themselves.
Joel Edwards, a commissioner who co-chaired the independent review panel that was set up to scrutinise the Prison Service's progress on behalf of the Commission, said: "Frank recognition and new systems alone are not enough - we need to see a difference in the treatment and experiences of both ethnic minority prisoners and staff within the Prison Service. The steps taken so far are very welcome conditions of change, but they're not sufficient.
"While monitoring systems are in place, prisons across the board need to know how to act on that data to transform areas of inequality and injustice. We will continue to work with the Prison Service to make that a reality. Real culture change in an organisation the size of the Prison Service takes time, but we are persuaded the senior leadership is committed to change."
Prison Service: slow progress on race equality
HM Prison Service reports there has been no transformation in the experience of black and minority ethnic staff and prisoners over the past five years despite putting significant systems and process into place to manage race equality.
