3. Urgent Question: The Decision to Build a Prison in Port Talbot

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:05 pm on 22 March 2017.

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Photo of Carl Sargeant Carl Sargeant Labour 3:05, 22 March 2017

Really good questions by the Member, but I hope that his visits to the prison were the same as mine, through the visitors’ entrance, so he could exit. But an important process. I haven’t got that detail, and I had a conversation with Sam Gyimah MP yesterday that was light on detail, because these things still have to be worked out, but what I would suggest is that the model, while controversial at first in the Wrexham area for HMP Berwyn, has proved to be a very positive one in terms of the interaction with communities. There’s lots of volunteer work going on there, education facilities, rehabilitation with third sector organisations. I would suggest that model is well-developed. It will be a sort of learning opportunity as well. But, also, the point of a superprison—Berwyn is the largest prison in the UK, but it is made up of several houses, which are, in effect, smaller prisons in an area, and I know the Member will have visited also. So, the questions the Member asked, and many Members have asked today, are matters for the MOJ in their application to the local authority, as and when that comes forward, but, without doubt, they are serious considerations that must be for the beneficial opportunities, for making sure that we can get rehabilitation with ex-offenders and offenders as we move forward.