WQ85149 (e) Tabled on 16/05/2022

What is the Welsh Government's target for the reduction in prison population?

Answered by Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution | Answered on 23/05/2022

Reducing the prison population and reducing crime are aspirations that should be universally shared. However, the Welsh Government will not have the necessary levers to reduce crime until there has been substantial devolution of the criminal justice system, and criminal justice policy can be aligned with social justice policy. It is not possible at this stage to know what the prison population of Wales will be when that devolution takes place, let alone to suggest what scale of reduction will then be possible.

More detail on the Welsh Government’s approach to justice will be included in our upcoming publication Delivering Justice in Wales.