7. 7. Plaid Cymru Debate: Superprisons

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:55 pm on 20 September 2017.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 5:55, 20 September 2017

Can we just leave it at the end? I’m sorry. I will take it if I have time. I’m saying that this prison is part of stopping re-offending. These outdated prisons, with dark corridors and cramped conditions, will not help offenders turn their back on crime, and nor do they provide our professional and dedicated—[Interruption.]—I’ll come to that—dedicated prison officers with the right tools and environment to do their job effectively. [Interruption.] I’ll come to that.

In Parc prison, which houses higher-risk offenders, you will have seen how that modern environment lends itself to helping prisoners become more personally resilient and less likely to reoffend. We have been over and over the facts about the higher levels of mental ill health and illiteracy, of adverse childhood experiences, within our prison population, and it is in a modern, rehabilitative prison where many get their first genuine chances of help. It is wrong to characterise these so-called ‘superprisons’ as huge, un-nuanced spaces. It’s worth Members revisiting observations made by both the Cabinet Secretary and Mark Isherwood back in July, both having visited HMP Berwyn. They themselves have said that the site is made up of smaller human-scale units appropriate to targeted rehabilitation and education services, offered by expert third sector and other external organisations. I seem to remember that Coleg Cambria is in Berwyn, and I look forward to the detail of what will be the equivalent in this prison.

As for the site, yes, I think it’s right for both Governments to show their workings on this, actually. Is Welsh Government just so keen to push this forward so they can get shot of this piece of land at last? It’s been hanging around for years. It would be a mistake, I think, to ignore the passionate views about this. Some very useful points have been made by the group in Port Talbot, and I’m sure we’ll hear more today, notwithstanding that grubby tone I mentioned earlier. But I think it does help to have a fuller picture, and that’s why I moved the amendment as tabled.

I’d like my constituents to be fully and accurately informed, rather than making decisions on speculation in some cases. To this end, the Ministry of Justice will be holding a two-day event shortly to hear from residents directly—directly—to discuss face to face. That’s a chance to test concerns about the proximity to homes, for example, although I do recall the First Minister reassuring us on the same issue, as it affected the siting of Parc in the past. It’s a chance to test those additional demands on local services by prisoners and their families. It’s a good point, but, in the case of Berwyn, I think new money did follow to help meet that demand. It’s a chance too to test those claims that there’ll be between 200 and 500 jobs in this, as well as construction jobs. Because I think it’s actually a fair point to say that some of these jobs could be moving from other areas, but I’m not convinced that it’ll be all of them, nor that ancillary and supply-chain jobs—and certainly construction jobs—would come from outside the area. I don’t think it was the case in Berwyn, and the UK Government has stated a clear intention that as many jobs as possible will be local. So, I recommend that constituents take full advantage of this before responding to the statutory consultation, to which I also hope that they will really respond.

[Interruption.] Oh, sorry, I’ve run out of time.