7. Debate on the 'Port Talbot Community Against the Super Prison' Petition

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:59 pm on 6 December 2017.

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Photo of David Rowlands David Rowlands UKIP 4:59, 6 December 2017

Yes. First of all, can I thank the Members for their contributions to the debate and the petitioners for bringing this petition forward? David Rees pointed out the appropriateness—or non-appropriateness—of the site with the flood zone and that it was designated as an enterprise zone, and job numbers are not really a measurement of what it would bring in the way of prosperity to the area. 

Suzy Davies pointed out that there were objections, agreed, to the prison, but there were also objections when the prison was due to be built in Berwyn. She pointed out that many of the concerns of the people in the Wrexham area seemed to have, at least in part, been negated over the last few months.

Bethan Jenkins spoke of the strength of the campaign, and pointed out the changes of mind of the Welsh Government and the Welsh Government's power to block the sale of the land, and reiterated David Rees's comments on the lack of rehabilitation in large prisons. I think it must be noted here the passion that both these speakers brought to this debate, and their commitment to the people of Port Talbot.

Caroline Jones took a different view, in many ways, to some of the contributors here, in that she's not, in principle, against the prison, but noted some of the physical barriers to the actual construction of the prison. She also gave a detailed description of overcrowding, particularly in Swansea, and a clear need for a new prison, and she emphasised that—