Meetings
NDM6949 Plaid Cymru debate - Prisons and Criminal Justice
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Meeting: 30/01/2019 - Plenary - Fifth Senedd (Item 7)
Plaid Cymru debate - Prisons and Criminal Justice
NDM6949 Rhun
ap Iorwerth (Ynys Môn)
To propose that the National Assembly for
Wales:
1. Notes the report by the Wales Governance
Centre, Sentencing and Immediate Custody in Wales: A Factfile.
2. Expresses concern at the report’s
finding that Wales has the highest incarceration rate in western Europe, and
that women, BAME people and disadvantaged communities are disproportionately
impacted by harsher sentencing in Wales.
3. Notes previous research by the Wales
Governance Centre which has revealed widespread safety and wellbeing issues in
Wales’s prisons, including increasing rates of substance misuse, self-harm,
violence and suicide.
4. Notes that a number of young offenders
from Wales serve prison sentences in England, and that incarceration has a
significant negative impact on young people’s future life chances.
5. Calls for:
a) the full devolution of criminal justice
to Wales;
b) the ruling out of the construction of
further ‘super prisons’ on any site in Wales and calls on Welsh Government to
communicate this opposition to the Ministry of Justice;
c) the full re-unification of the probation
service and an end to partial privatisation;
d) a focus on community-based approaches
for non-violent crimes and an end to the overuse of shorter prison sentences;
e) an end to custodial sentences for young
people and women other than in exceptional circumstances;
f) the right to vote for prisoners in Welsh
elections.
Wales
Governance Centre - Sentencing and Immediate Custody in Wales: A Factfile
Wales
Governance Centre - Imprisonment in Wales: A Factfile
The following amendments were tabled:
Amendment 1 - Gareth Bennett (South Wales Central)
Delete all and
replace with:
To propose that the
National Assembly for Wales:
1. Notes the Wales
Governance Centre report on Sentencing and Immediate Custody, Imprisonment in
Wales and supplementary evidence to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.
2. Further notes
that, according to the Ministry of Justice, in October 2018, 11 percent of the
total prison population in England and Wales were foreign nationals, with the
most common foreign nationalities being Polish, Albanian, Irish and
Romanian.
3. Believes that:
a) the prison
service should be adequately funded and prison officers adequately paid;
b) all prisoners
should be in the custody of officers of the Crown answerable to UK Government
Ministers and not private companies;
c) the Welsh
Government should work with the UK Government to reverse privatisation of the
prison system;
d) foreign
criminals should be deported to serve their sentences in their own countries,
and such criminals should be banned from re-entering the UK;
e) new prisons
should be built as necessary throughout the UK to accommodate the number of
persons convicted of imprisonable crimes.
Offender Management
Statistics Bulletin, England and Wales
[If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2 and
3 will be de-selected]
Amendment 2 - Darren Millar (Clwyd West)
Delete all after
point 1 and replace with:
Notes the focus by
the Ministry of Justice on rehabilitative services, community sentences and
reducing reoffending.
[If amendment 2 is
agreed, amendment 3 will be de-selected]
Amendment 3 - Rebecca Evans (Gower)
Delete point 5 and
replace with:
Welcomes the work
of the Commission on Justice in Wales and looks forward to its recommendations
about future responsibilities for policing and justice in Wales.
Calls for
a) the ruling out
of the construction of further ‘super prisons’ on any site in Wales and calls
on Welsh Government to communicate this opposition to the Ministry of Justice;
b) the full
re-unification of the probation service and an end to partial privatisation;
c) a focus on
community-based approaches for non-violent crimes and an end to the overuse of
shorter prison sentences;
d) an end to
custodial sentences for young people and women other than in exceptional
circumstances; and
e) the right to
vote for prisoners in Welsh elections.
Minutes:
The item started at
16.24
Voting
on the motion and amendments under this item was deferred until Voting Time.
A
vote was taken on the motion without amendment:
NDM6949 Rhun ap Iorwerth (Ynys Môn)
To propose that the
National Assembly for Wales:
1. Notes the report by the
Wales Governance Centre, Sentencing and Immediate Custody in Wales: A Factfile.
2. Expresses concern at
the report’s finding that Wales has the highest incarceration rate in western
Europe, and that women, BAME people and disadvantaged communities are
disproportionately impacted by harsher sentencing in Wales.
3. Notes previous research
by the Wales Governance Centre which has revealed widespread safety and
wellbeing issues in Wales’s prisons, including increasing rates of substance
misuse, self-harm, violence and suicide.
4. Notes that a number of
young offenders from Wales serve prison sentences in England, and that
incarceration has a significant negative impact on young people’s future life
chances.
5. Calls for:
a) the full devolution of
criminal justice to Wales;
b) the ruling out of the
construction of further ‘super prisons’ on any site in Wales and calls on Welsh
Government to communicate this opposition to the Ministry of Justice;
c) the full re-unification
of the probation service and an end to partial privatisation;
d) a focus on
community-based approaches for non-violent crimes and an end to the overuse of
shorter prison sentences;
e) an end to custodial
sentences for young people and women other than in exceptional circumstances;
f) the right to vote for
prisoners in Welsh elections.
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
8 |
1 |
41 |
50 |
The
motion without amendment was not agreed.
The
following amendments were tabled:
Amendment 1 - Gareth
Bennett (South Wales Central)
Delete all and replace with:
To propose that the National Assembly for
Wales:
1. Notes the Wales Governance Centre report
on Sentencing and Immediate Custody, Imprisonment in Wales and supplementary
evidence to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.
2. Further notes that, according to the
Ministry of Justice, in October 2018, 11 percent of the total prison population
in England and Wales were foreign nationals, with the most common foreign
nationalities being Polish, Albanian, Irish and Romanian.
3. Believes that:
a) the prison service should be adequately
funded and prison officers adequately paid;
b) all prisoners should be in the custody
of officers of the Crown answerable to UK Government Ministers and not private
companies;
c) the Welsh Government should work with
the UK Government to reverse privatisation of the prison system;
d) foreign criminals should be deported to
serve their sentences in their own countries, and such criminals should be
banned from re-entering the UK;
e) new prisons should be built as necessary
throughout the UK to accommodate the number of persons convicted of
imprisonable crimes.
A vote was taken on
amendment 1:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
3 |
0 |
48 |
51 |
Amendment 1 was not
agreed.
Amendment 2 - Darren Millar (Clwyd West)
Delete all after
point 1 and replace with:
Notes the focus by
the Ministry of Justice on rehabilitative services, community sentences and
reducing reoffending.
A vote was taken on
amendment 2:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
11 |
3 |
37 |
51 |
Amendment
2 was not agreed.
Amendment 3 - Rebecca Evans (Gower)
Delete point 5 and replace with:
Welcomes the work of the Commission on Justice in Wales and looks forward
to its recommendations about future responsibilities for policing and justice
in Wales.
Calls for
a) the ruling out of the construction of further ‘super prisons’ on any
site in Wales and calls on Welsh Government to communicate this opposition to
the Ministry of Justice;
b) the full re-unification of the probation service and an end to partial
privatisation;
c) a focus on community-based approaches for non-violent crimes and an
end to the overuse of shorter prison sentences;
d) an end to custodial sentences for young people and women other than in
exceptional circumstances; and
e) the right to vote for prisoners in Welsh elections.
A vote was taken on
amendment 3:
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
29 |
0 |
22 |
51 |
Amendment
3 was agreed.
A vote was taken on the motion as amended:
NDM6949 Rhun ap Iorwerth (Ynys Môn)
To propose that the
National Assembly for Wales:
1. Notes the report by the
Wales Governance Centre, Sentencing and Immediate Custody in Wales: A Factfile.
2. Expresses concern at
the report’s finding that Wales has the highest incarceration rate in western
Europe, and that women, BAME people and disadvantaged communities are
disproportionately impacted by harsher sentencing in Wales.
3. Notes previous research
by the Wales Governance Centre which has revealed widespread safety and
wellbeing issues in Wales’s prisons, including increasing rates of substance
misuse, self-harm, violence and suicide.
4. Notes that a number of
young offenders from Wales serve prison sentences in England, and that
incarceration has a significant negative impact on young people’s future life
chances.
5. Welcomes the work of the Commission on Justice in Wales and looks forward
to its recommendations about future responsibilities for policing and justice
in Wales.
Calls for
a) the ruling out
of the construction of further ‘super prisons’ on any site in Wales and calls
on Welsh Government to communicate this opposition to the Ministry of Justice;
b) the full
re-unification of the probation service and an end to partial privatisation;
c) a focus on
community-based approaches for non-violent crimes and an end to the overuse of
shorter prison sentences;
d) an end to
custodial sentences for young people and women other than in exceptional
circumstances; and
e) the right to
vote for prisoners in Welsh elections.
For |
Abstain |
Against |
Total |
36 |
1 |
14 |
51 |
The motion as amended was
agreed.