What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact on the Welsh prison population of the UK Justice Secretary's recent announcement of the intention to create 4,000 additional prison places by the mid-2020s?
Responsibility for the prison estate lies with the Ministry of Justice. However, the Welsh Government has been clear that creating more prison places is not the right way to solve the crisis in our criminal justice system.
There is clearly a distinction between improving facilities and wanting to build additional facilities. An improvement to the standards and conditions of the existing secure estate is welcomed, however we are not supportive of an increase in the number of prisons or prison places in Wales or indeed in England.
The UK Justice Secretary’s announcement on the additional 4,000 prison places on the 18 February did not include any sites in Wales. However, the Ministry of Justice did publish a new Prisons Strategy in December 2021, which set out plans for the biggest prison-building programme in more than 100 years.
The overall tone of the strategy was regressive and did not align with the more progressive programmes of work already developing in partnership here in Wales. This includes work such as the Female Offending and Youth Justice Blueprints, and the first Residential Women’s Centre which will be located in Wales. Any approach to justice should build on what the evidence tell us works in practice, building on the strengths of people in the justice system and sowing the seeds of hope for a brighter future. Whilst public protection and risk management will always be an important part of any justice system, this needs to be done in a progressive way as part of a rehabilitative culture. I raised these concerns when writing to the UK Justice Secretary in response to the Prisons Strategy consultation last month.