Government response to the Committee's 3rd report of session 2006-07 (HC 74, ISBN 9780215034366)

The Committee undertook this inquiry to address concerns about the imprisonment of Welsh prisoners outside Wales. At present there are only four prisons in Wales, all in the South, and there is little provision for juveniles and no prisons for women. The overcrowding means that Welsh prisoners have a reduced chance of serving their sentence near home and reduces the chances of successful resettlement on release. The Committee believe there should be new prison places in North Wales, separate provision for young offenders and a new approach to women prisoners along the lines suggested by Baroness Corston. The report also address concerns about support services for mental illness amongst prisoners, the amount of Welsh language provision and education services.

This study represents the first systematic attempt to explore the functioning of the policing and criminal justice system in post-devolution Wales. Its particular relevance is underscored by the revelation that Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in western Europe. Drawing on official data as well as extensive interviews with senior figures, this book represents the first systematic exploration of the operation of the justice system in Wales across the jagged edge of devolved and non-devolved functions. There remains little understanding of how the justice system operates in the anomalous circumstances of post-devolution Wales This book aims to fill this gap in understanding and concludes with an assessment of the proposals of the Commission on Justice in Wales for reform.

An insight of what it's like to be in prison on a day-to-day basis and how the prison system actually works. Michael O'Brien has first-hand experience of life inside Cardiff Prison. He tells the experiences of inmates and prison officer, alike.

Controversial Issues in Prisons is a textbook designed to explore eight of the most controversial aspects of imprisonment in England and Wales today. It is primarily a book about the people who are sent to prison and what happens to them when inside. Each chapter examines a different dimension of the prison population and draws upon the sociological imagination to make connections between the personal troubles and vulnerabilities of those incarcerated with wider structural divisions which plague the society we live in. The book investigates controversies surrounding the incarceration of people with mental health problems, women, children, foreign nationals, offenders’ with suicidal ideation, sex offenders, drug takers and the collateral consequences of incarceration on prisoners' families. Each chapter on these eight substantive topics shares a common structure and answers the following key questions: How have people conceptualised this penal controversy? What does the official data tell us and what are its limitations? What is its historical context? What are the contemporary policies of the Prison Service? Are they legitimate and, if not, what are the alternatives? Ultimately the authors argue that in combination these controversial issues raise fundamental concerns about the legitimacy of the confinement project and the kind of society in which it is deemed essential. The book concludes with a discussion of why it remains important to make penal controversies visible, challenge penological illiteracy and provide alternative means of responding to human wrongdoing rooted in the principles of human rights and social justice.