Wales ‘risks becoming English penal colony’
WALES risks being seen as a penal colony for England if a new super-prison is built, a leading campaigner for prison reform has warned.
Its construction could lead to the closure of existing prisons in Cardiff and Swansea and damage the image of Wales, according to Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Prison Reform.
She said: “It’s just using cheap land and cheap labour.
“It’s not really investing in Wales, it’s exploiting Wales.”
Her comments come on the heels of Plaid Cymru warnings that Wales will become a net “importer” of prisoners if a new prison – which could be built on undeveloped land at Baglan near Port Talbot, becomes a reality.
HMP Berwyn in n orth Wales, which has a capacity of more than 2,100 inmates, opened earlier this year.
Warning that Wales risks gaining an international reputation as a “penal colony”, she said: “It took quite a long time for areas of Australia to get over that image, and it may take a century for Wales to get over it, too.”
Arguing that cash would be better spent preventing crime, not building prisons, Ms Crook said: “We don’t need more prisons.
“If the Government has a magic money tree with £100m in cash to build something and then £20m for the next century, wouldn’t it be better to spend that in Wales on something that would prevent crime and give young people real opportunities for training and jobs, rather than building an extra prison for English people?”
She added: “All the evidence [is] that sending people to prison, particularly for short periods of time, actually creates more crime rather than solves it.”
Predicting that inmates would be released in Wales with no idea how to get back to England, she said: “It will be a privately-run prison, almost certainly, and then they will be dumped back on the streets with £46 in one hand and a little plastic bag in the other, slightly bemused as to where on earth they are because they will have come from Manchester or Birmingham or Liverpool or Newcastle and they won’t know how to get back.”
Making the case that a super-prison in South Wales could lead to the closure of Swansea and Cardiff prisons, she said: “At least one, probably both, will close, so it won’t be a gain in jobs; it will be an overall loss in jobs, and a loss in jobs in the city area.
“There will undoubtedly.”
Ms Crook pressed the Welsh Government to oppose the new prison, saying: “I hope the Welsh Government will take a moral and practical lead and oppose the plans. Because [the plans] are not going to help with employment, they are not going to help with inward investment, and in fact I think it will cause [many] more problems and I don’t think it helps with the image of Wales to become a penal colony.”
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman be redundancies, said: “We are investing £1.3bn in reforming the prison estate – replacing older prisons with high-quality, modern establishments and supporting local communities.
“In Wales alone this will potentially create up to 500 jobs and contribute £11m a year to the regional economy.
“No decisions have been made about who will run the new prison. We will continue to work closely with the local community as plans develop.”
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said: “The Tory UK Government seems determined to use Wales as a repository for Westminster’s problems.
“The Labour Welsh Government’s refusal to take a firm stand against the proposed prison for Port Talbot means that the Tories in London are given a free pass to go ahead with it.
“Wales must be the only country in the world where prisons are highlighted as tools for economic development, rather than part of the country’s justice system.
“Frances Crook’s comments are a welcome contribution to the debate, and the First Minister should heed the warnings of such experts in the field.
“The proposals for a prison in Port Talbot raise serious questions over safety, jobs and the impact on local public services – particularly the NHS.
“Plaid Cymru will continue to oppose these plans and challenge the Welsh and UK Governments not to act against the interests of our communities and economy.”
Carl Sargeant, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, last week set out the Welsh Government’s involvement in the project so far.
He said: “Responsibility for prisons lies with the UK Government. The Welsh Government was approached by the Ministry of Justice as part of an exercise across England and Wales to see if we knew of any land that could be developed for this scale of prison.
“We supplied a list of 20 sites ... We regularly provide this type of service for all businesses and all developers...
“The Ministry of Justice expressed its desire to proceed with a planning permission application for a prison facility at Baglan in Port Talbot. We were not part of the decision process that selected Baglan as a preferred site...
“The Government is not playing a role in developing the prison or a role in the community. We may comment on the proposals when they become available.”