7. Plaid Cymru Debate: Prisons and Criminal Justice

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:44 pm on 30 January 2019.

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Photo of Bethan Sayed Bethan Sayed Plaid Cymru 4:44, 30 January 2019

Thanks. I think it's really important that we keep this particular issue at the top of the political agenda and try and discuss this in a constructive way if it's possible—not from what I've heard from some contributions today. One of the things I was most keen to talk about and to put on the agenda when we had the campaign in Port Talbot against a new superprison in Baglan was that the campaign should simply not be about 'In my backyard'. The issue of a prison raised much larger issues of importance to Wales and those needed to be explored and discussed in a constructive way. The proposed prison was about much more than simply housing prisoners, and the arguments surrounding a prison as some form of economic investment always lacked credibility, especially when the land was already designated as a business park and should, in my view, have been developed as such years ago.