Memorandum submitted by NACRO

WELSH PRISONERS IN THE PRISON ESTATE

Introduction.

Nacro, the crime reduction charity works with prisoners both inside and outside of prison and is actively involved in the post release support of prisoners returning to North Wales.

Oral evidence to the Committee will be submitted by Jackie Worrall, Director of Policy and Public Affairs.

Welsh prisoners in the prison estate.

Prisoners in South Wales can be held in Welsh prisons. In the current climate there are concerns about the capacity of those prisons to provide constructive regimes in the face of over crowding and consequent prisoner movement. Prisoners from North Wales are invariably held in the English prison estate, the majority of male prisoners in HMP Altcourse and the majority of women prisoners in HMP Styal. One of the main concerns is that prisoners are held at a great distance from home so that there are major difficulties in maintaining family ties. Journeys are both long and expensive particularly for families travelling from North West Wales. The distance from the home area also impacts on the resettlement process. Agencies able to offer support to prisoners incur significant travel costs. The scope for temporary release in order to be interviewed for housing or employment is also limited by the distance and travel time involved.

There are a number of schemes in place in Wales to assist prisoners after release. Local Authorities have a duty of care and in some areas there are rent deposit schemes which make it easier to find accommodation. There are also schemes to assist people in getting back into work. Nacro has a team of prison link workers who visit prisoners during sentence and remain in contact with them after release. The visits to the prison must, however, be minimal because of the time and cost involved.

In English prisons there is no access to literature in the Welsh language or to prison staff who are Welsh speaking. However, the Nacro project, which does have Welsh speaking staff, has not found that this is a major issue.

For women in prison there are a number of concerns. There are additional difficulties about maintaining family contact since women are more likely to be the primary carer. Many women are unwilling to move to open prisons because the distance from home will be even greater. English resettlement staff are not always sufficiently familiar with Welsh housing provision and support agencies and funding issues mean that very few Welsh Voluntary and Community Agencies are able to work with women in English prisons.

The level of self harm among women prisoners is high but there is limited access to specialist interventions for mental health treatment. There is also a specific concern that some counselling services are provided by men, which is inappropriate for women who have been the victims of abuse and guidance.

Recommendations for action.

· Prisoners should be held closer to the home area wherever this is possible, in order to facilitate family ties and preparation for release.

· Women should not be held in prison, unless they present a real danger to the public, and could be more effectively housed in smaller units in Wales.

· There is a need for an increase in supported accommodation for women returning to Wales.

· There is also a need for transitional facilities which would assist the more vulnerable prisoners, both men and women, in making the transition from prison to the community. There are significant numbers of prisoners who are serving repeated short sentences, many because they cannot cope in the community. They require a high level of support in order to resettle effectively in the community and to avoid further offending.

· The future commissioning of services by the Welsh Offender Manager should ensure that there are sufficient services to support prisoners returning to the community and, particularly that there is sufficient provision of support for women and for black and minority ethnic prisoners.

November 2006