Freedom Central » justice http://www.freedomcentral.org.uk Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:29:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 The burgeoning prison estate http://www.freedomcentral.org.uk/2009/12/the-burgeoning-prison-estate.html http://www.freedomcentral.org.uk/2009/12/the-burgeoning-prison-estate.html#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:34:12 +0000 Freedom Central http://www.freedomcentral.org.uk/?p=2607
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    • ]]>     This morning’s Western Mail reveals that Wales’ overcrowded prisons are down to their last 84 places:

    Usk prison is full to its 256-inmate capacity, and the nearby open prison at Prescoed holds 170 prisoner, just short of its capacity of 178.

    The situation has eased slightly at the privately-run Parc prison near Bridgend, where extra cells have been created. But even here 1,155 of the 1,200 spaces are occupied.

    But in Wales’ Victorian-era prisons thing are worse: Cardiff has 812 prisoners on its 824-capacity site. In Swansea, where the maximum figure is 402, there are 383 inmates.

    That leaves just 84 free spaces in Wales’ 2,860-capacity prison estate. Many prisons on the English border, which house Welsh prisoners, are near-full too, and Bristol is actually at the over-capacity mark.

    The crisis underlines the case for a new Welsh prison but also for suitable secure accomodation within Wales for women and juveniles. However, it also highlights the need for a new approach to sentencing, reserving prison only for the worst offenders and seeking community sentencing for others.

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    1. Welsh NHS estate maintenance backlog nearly £500 million
    2. Government early release scheme is failing
    3. Liberal Democrat Achievements in Government Part Seven – Your Community

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