The final post in this “Welsh Justice System” series focuses on the least comfortable element – prisons and prisoners – with the death penalty debate thrown in at the end for good measure.
Not everything relating to penal policy will be covered otherwise this would be twice the length and I’ve done enough already.
Based on some of the case studies in Part XIV, we should aim for:
- The “community-facing” facilities and modern prison estate of Scotland.
- Ireland’s prisoner training and education programme.
- Norway’s low reoffending rate and smaller prisons.
Prisoner Security Categories
As mentioned earlier, all prisoners in EnglandandWales are assigned a security category based largely around the danger they would pose if they escaped. For male inmates, this goes from Category A (most dangerous) to Category D (open prison conditions).
The simplest option is to keep this categorisation system – but it was designed with a larger prison population in mind and there’s a bit of a blur between categories B and C in particular.
As for possible changes, most countries only have three security categories (Part XIV) – usually a high, medium and low category. If Wales were to adopt a three-tier system it could look something like this:
As currently, a prisoner’s security category would be reviewed periodically – particularly for those at the top.
Prisoners who pose less of a danger, have behaved well or are nearing release after a long sentence could be moved down a category (and likely moved to a different prison), while prisoners who go in the opposite direction could be moved up a category.
The Structure of the Prison Service
This is only illustrative/a rough idea of how things could work. Keeping the current prisons is a valid option if people can justify it – and it’s the one we’re familiar with and know the costs of (around £200million a year). Even then, it would make sense for some of the older prisons to be replaced.
The goal here would be: to ensure prisoners near release, serving sentences for non-violent crimes or low-level offenders (Open) are moved closer to home; replace outdated facilities; ensure there are facilities for women prisoners; ensure prisoners in higher-level security categories (Secure, Closed) are in the facilities best placed to cope with their specific demands.
This is just a rough idea. The operational capacity at each facility and prisoner categories etc. would be political decisions and based on evidence at the time. It may also require a penal policy commission to consider the available options and changes in more detail, as well as legislation. The number of spaces would also be driven by demand (i.e. the numbers handed a prison sentence). Overall capacity would be down, but you would assume if, for example, short sentences were automatically suspended or there were better rehabilitation options then fewer people would be sent to prison in the first place.
Switching from a few, large secure prisons to a network of smaller ones would be a significant capital project that could take up to 20-30 years or more; a small prison for 200-300 inmates might cost £40-50million by itself and that doesn’t count the running costs. It can’t happen overnight and it’s likely that the current set-up would be in place for some time.
Top of the list would be the closure and replacement of Cardiff, Swansea and Usk-Prescoed prisons.
So there could be two big relatively new “secure” prison estates – Parc and Berwyn; one in the north, one in the south. Parc already has facilities for prisoners serving life sentences, while Berwyn is a modern enough facility to covert to holding higher category prisoners if need be.
There could also be moves to ensure a fairer geographical spread (as mentioned). Priority would be a facility in the north-west (I suggest Caernarfon given the presence of a circuit court), and lower-security prisons in mid-Wales and the A465 corridor to ensure as many lower-level offenders are housed as close to their communities as is possible before release.
Including women’s facilities on the same site as men would be simply for convenience and to share staff and facilities. While some communal areas (such as training and rehabilitation services) could be shared, you would still expect men and women prisoners to be housed in separate buildings even if on the same campus.
As for transgender prisoners, while the numbers involved in Wales are likely to be single figures at most, it’s been deemed lawful by the UK High Court for transwomen to be sent to women’s prisons (and presumably vice versa for transmen). There should, perhaps, be an exception for transwomen convicted of sexual offences against women or children.
The best long-term option would be a dedicated wing/facility for all trans and non-binary prisoners, particularly those in lower security categories.
Prison Life, Education & Training
The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (also known as the Mandela Rules – pdf) state that all prisoners, as a minimum, should expect (in summary):
- To be treated equally and have their religious beliefs respected.
- Men and women to be detained in separate accommodation and, ideally, separate institutions.
- Prisoners on remand and young offenders to be kept separate from convicted adult prisoners.
- A presumption in favour of single-occupancy cells.
- Minimum standards for hygiene, bedding, clothing (there’s no ban on prisoner uniforms), daily exercise, medical services, transfers from court to prison or between prisons and maintaining discipline.
- A privileges system to maintain good conduct and a ban on collective punishment.
- Restraint to never be applied as punishment and solitary confinement not to be used indefinitely or for a prolonged period.
- A right to make complaints to prison authorities.
- A right to be allowed contact with reputable friends and family by correspondence and visits.
- All prisons to have libraries.
- Prisons to prioritise inmates being able to live a law-abiding life after release, whether through education, religious and moral practice, training, employment counselling or physical development.
- Prisoners to work (or undertake training) but this can’t be painful in any way and should resemble similar work in everyday life.
You would expect all prisons in Wales to meet these requirements – if not exceed them – already as a bare minimum.
Regardless of security category, it’s fair that all prisoners have access to the same opportunities (learning, training, work) – though, naturally, prisoners in Secure/Category A may have to do things differently or be more closely monitored than those in Open/Category D.
In terms of education and training, prisoners should be able to access everything from entry-level adult education/basic skills right through to taught masters degrees – through distance learning if necessary, which means the Open University would likely have the monopoly on courses.
Prisoners could/should be allowed access to some form of student support for higher education if they’re serving a long enough sentence – as argued by the Higher Education Policy Institute in 2019.
There’s already some very good work being undertaken in prisons regarding vocational skills. Network Rail have a training facility at Parc Prison, while there’s the famous “Clink” restaurant at Cardiff Prison (run by a charity) which is open to the public. Coleg Cambria has a contract to provide vocational training at Berwyn Prison.
Anything that could see prisoners improve their job prospects or chances of self-sufficiency after release should be explored. Big employers – utilities, NHS, BT, Network Rail, even the military – should have training programmes in prisons if they don’t already, or even reserved jobs for the best-performing prisoners (given the pre-existing difficulties in post-prison settlement).
As for lower-security prisons, the “Open” prisons set out earlier would be, in effect, residential centres operating similarly to those suggested as an alternative to prison for women. The focus would be more on problem-solving to prevent criminal behaviour, treatment for substance addiction and preparation for release (such as help finding housing) for those who’ve served longer sentences. They could double up as Tier 4/residential substance abuse treatment centres and half-way houses.
Secure Hospitals
Convicted criminals who need specialist psychiatric care – such as those convicted due to diminished responsibility/capacity – then they are usually detained at secure psychiatric hospitals rather than prisons and are treated as patients rather than prisoners.
This would include convicted criminals who have severe personality disorders, conditions such as schizophrenia or other co-morbidities.
Those deemed to pose less of a risk (would otherwise go to a Closed or Open category prison) could be accommodated at existing medium-secure units at psychiatric hospitals, such as the Caswell Clinic in Bridgend or Ty Llywelyn in Llanfairfechan (mentioned earlier).
For those deemed a higher risk (Category A/Secure prisoners), then it depends on the expected numbers involved. The options are:
- House them in pre-existing/expanded medium-secure units – but this would obviously pose a serious security risk. It’ll be convenient but not always practical.
- Build a high-secure psychiatric unit in Wales – it’s unclear whether the numbers involved would justify such an expense.
- Pay the English Government to treat them at Ashworth Hospital or Broadmoor Hospital, the two closest high-security hospitals to Wales (as happens now). A bed at the two hospitals costs anything between £200,000-400,000 a year. However, if only say three or four patients from Wales are sent every year it’s still cheaper than building an equivalent hospital.
The Role of Prison Officers
The role of prison officers needn’t change that much. The only areas that perhaps needs to be looked at are qualifications and training.
We could either keep things as they are now (12-week entry course with future leadership programmes etc.) or move more to a system similar to that of the police – initial qualification followed by an extended probationary period.
Much like probation officers (Part XV), there’s a clear case for prison officers to be registered professionals with a professional standards agency and code of conduct – whether it’s the same one as suggested for probation officers or separate.
The bigger opportunities perhaps lie with the support and rehabilitation staff. There are already fairly close working relationships between prisons and agencies providing outreach work and training.
However, if we’re going to take a “whole picture” view of rehabilitation and life after prison then there need to be more formal links with health boards, the education sector (including universities), employment agencies and housing associations.
