Jail shortage 'disaster' warning

Jail shortage 'disaster' warning

A top criminal justice official says it would be a "disaster" for north Wales unless a prison is built in the area.

Clare Pillman, the Criminal Justice Board chair, says 700 inmates from the region are housed at English prisons.

Flintshire councillors are being asked to vote for a regional prison but not at a former RAF base on Deeside.

The Firestone factory in Wrexham, the Friction Dynamics plant in Caernarfon, and the former Shell site at Rhosgoch on Anglesey are also being considered.

In June, the Welsh Affairs committee proposed that a new prison for up to 500 people should be built in the north of Wales, helping ease overcrowding in prisons over the border in England and allowing inmates to serve their sentences close to home.

In response the UK government said it was still in the process of reviewing the demand for prison places across north Wales as a part of a nationwide review.

The Ministry of Justice said it was sympathetic to the issue and also noted that back in August no site had been identified as a viable locations.

In the meantime, the North Wales Criminal Justice Board has written to local councils to ask for their views on potential sites, and it now appears that some councils have responded positively.

The board's chair Clare Pillman said: "I think we in the justice sector in north Wales have felt the argument for a prison in north Wales is so self evidently right for a very long time that it is very very good to see some real movement on it at the moment.

"I think it would be a real disaster if we were still looking at a situation in north Wales where 100% of prisoners from north Wales were housed in prisons in England."

At a meeting on Tuesday councillors in Flintshire are expected to welcome proposals for a new prison in north Wales as long as it is not sited in the former RAF Sealand base.

However, a council officer's report will recommend that there are no suitable sites for a new prison in the county.

It says the location of the facility should be located within "one hour's peak travel time of the courts in north Wales".

The prison, the report says, should also "reflect the need to deliver a service in the Welsh language".

Another site under consideration is the former Firestone rubber factory on Wrexham's industrial estate.

Community councillor for nearby Pentre Maelor Raymond Squires warned that there would be opposition.

He said: "They had protests here years ago when it was Deeside Aluminium. The road was completely blocked here.

"People were laying on the road and they had wheelchairs on the road. If they want the same protests again they will certainly get them, because this is not a dumping ground for a prison."

A decision is expected to be made later in November.

There are currently five prisons in Wales, but all in the south - Cardiff, Swansea, Parc in Bridgend, Usk and Prescoed in Pontypool.