Plaid Cymru ultimately believes, with many of these points on this motion, that they won't have a realistic chance of being brought forward until we have proper criminal justice devolution and we can develop a distinct Welsh criminal jurisdiction. I would argue that this is becoming more and more imperative, in part because, as we pass more and more distinct Welsh legislation—particularly over issues that directly affect criminal rehabilitation, such as health, social services and housing—it is becoming more necessary as a natural step to take. We have those powers already, as has been mentioned earlier. Why, therefore, do we not have legislation to administer criminal justice? But my concern is that the Welsh Government doesn't seem to have the fire in its belly to really press this issue, nor are they adequately attempting to boost the legal sector in Wales so that they can cope with any changes in the devolution of criminal justice.

Devolution also becomes more difficult if we accept a larger and larger prison estate in Wales, which is being designed for England's surplus prison population. If the proposed prison in Port Talbot goes ahead, there will be around a 2,300 surplus of prison places in Wales, compared with the total number of prisoners from Wales across the whole of the UK. It's clear that any new prison in Wales is not being developed to meet the needs of Wales, because we already have that capacity. The more prisoners from England serving their sentences in Wales and vice versa will make it very difficult to do the things the Welsh Government says that it supports. Just yesterday, Carwyn Jones voiced his support for the concept of looking at a separate Welsh penal policy, yet he shrugged his shoulders to a huge new prison in his neighbouring constituency. We need a clear position from the Welsh Government, which isn't contradictory, to form part of this debate we are having here as a Parliament, and more broadly, as a country. 

In terms of rehabilitation, we must start moving away, too, from the idea that we can ship prisoners across country and expect an effective rehabilitation at the end of a sentence. The review into prisons by Lord Michael Farmer last year calls family relationships 'the golden thread' to help reduce reoffending, and research shows prisoners who receive visits from a family member are 39 per cent less likely to reoffend.