In opening this debate this afternoon, the Member for South Wales West established several threads within the discussion, including the effectiveness of superprisons in reducing reoffending rates and offering inmates a safe environment for rehabilitation, whether Wales needs more prisons, and the unsuitability of this site in Baglan for the new prison, as announced by the Ministry of Justice on 22 March. At present, some of these issues are not devolved to the Welsh Government, but the ownership of the land being proposed, and thus the impact of the development, is within the Welsh Government’s control, and as the constituency Member for that site, it will come as no surprise to Members in this Chamber that I will focus on the unsuitability of the location and the impact the development would have on my local community.

However, I will raise my concerns over the effectiveness of the approach of the UK Government of building more superprisons to replace overcrowded Victorian prisons as a means of achieving its goal of reducing reoffending rates. I struggle to find any evidence, empirical evidence, that they actually do reduce reoffending rates as a result of any improved rehabilitation within them. So, surely, the Ministry of Justice would be well served by taking time to analyse the effectiveness of the superprisons it already operates—HMP Berwyn, and HMP Oakwood in Birmingham—before it goes ahead with its cost-saving plans for more. In fact, there is greater evidence out there that there are known problems with large prisons. Even as far back as 1991, Lord Woolf demonstrated the problems, further demonstrated by a study by the chief inspector in 2009, and more recently in a damning report on HMP Oakwood. The Welsh Government should reflect on these, and the social impact upon both communities and inmates prior to any decision they will make upon the sale or lease of the land within its ownership for development of a superprison.

Llywydd, I will now move on to the unsuitability of this site and why I’m calling for the Welsh Government not to release this land to the Ministry of Justice for this new prison. In her opening remarks, Bethan Jenkins highlighted many of the challenges to the arguments used by the MOJ for this decision, including many that needed consideration in the planning process. I concur with those and will expand upon some, but I won’t have time to do them all, unfortunately.

Let’s start with the argument for the economy, as already outlined by Adam Price in one sense: one that implies that the MOJ thinks that Port Talbot will take any jobs, no matter what. Well, we do need to diversify the local economy, and we need to improve labour market indicators—GVA and unemployment. But this proposal will not do that. This site is within the Port Talbot waterfront enterprise park and an area that has been earmarked to help the economy grow by encouraging existing businesses, or new businesses, to invest in growth.