THE UK Government’s prisons policy is “nothing short of a horror story”, a Newport AM has said.

Newport East's John Griffiths was speaking earlier this week as AMs debated a report by the Wales Governance Centre, which revealed, of the 4,704 Welsh people in prison in June this year, 1,731 – 37 per cent – were in English prisons. Some of these, in areas such as Yorkshire and East Anglia, are more than 200 miles away from home.

Meanwhile, of the 4,346 people in Wales' six prisons, 1,324 - 30 per cent - are from England.

Speaking during the debate, Labour AM Mr Griffiths added his voice to those calling for prisons and justice to be devolved to Wales, saying: "I'm confident that the consensus within this chamber and politics in Wales would push us in a very different, much more productive direction."

He said: "If we look at UK Government's prisons policy, it's nothing short of a horror story.

“Very many people who are in prison simply shouldn't be there. Imprisonment isn't used as a last resort.

“Very many people incarcerated have mental health problems. They have drug and alcohol problems. They have very low skills.

“The effort to help these people is not one that should be taking place in prisons - they shouldn't be in prison in the first place.

“And, of course, many of them have short sentences, which makes rehabilitation very difficult, because they're not in prison long enough, really, for a proper rehabilitative experience to take place.”

Concluding, he said: "The sooner we get Welsh Government in charge of these matters and this chamber determining scrutiny and policy, the better."

Local government and public services secretary Alun Davies also spoke during the debate, saying the current prisons system "isn't working for people across Wales".

The study led by Dr Robert Jones also showed, of the 386 people from Newport currently in prison, 272 – 70 per cent – are in Welsh prisons.

The overwhelming majority of these are at HMP Parc in Bridgend and HMP Cardiff, with the remaining 114 spread across 48 prisons in England. The greatest number – 17 – are in HMP Eastwood Park, a women’s prison in South Gloucestershire.

Meanwhile, about half the the 32 prisoners from Monmouthshire are in Welsh prisons and about 62 per cent of the 82 prison inmates from Torfaen are in Wales.

The majority of the 52 prisoners from Blaenau Gwent are in Welsh prisons, with around 15 in prison in England. Of the 152 prisoners from Caerphilly, around 100 are in Welsh prisons, and the remainder in England.

Of the 527 prisoners at Gwent’s only prison, HMP Usk and Prescoed, 170, about one third, are from England.

As all Wales’ six prisons are male-only, all the 261 Welsh women currently serving custodial sentences are in English prisons.