Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government, Mark Isherwood AM, has called for the Welsh Government to recognise the vital role of the third sector in helping offenders and again highlighted the dangers of devolving criminal justice to Wales.
Responding to yesterday’s Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services: ‘Towards a Distinct Approach to the Penal System in Wales’, Mr Isherwood referred to the work of Eagle House Youth Development, a community interest company in North Wales, which works with young people involved with or at risk of committing crime, and also to the Clean Slate Cymru project, a pan-Wales project to support people with convictions into construction employment.
Speaking in the Chamber, he said:
“You rightly say that, on youth offending, you believe early intervention and prevention can help divert young people away from the criminal justice system, and refer to how best to place a small cohort of young people in custody and to help those young people recover and settle into their communities. Well, the (Ministry of Justice) consultation document 'Strengthening probation, building confidence', also spoke about increasing integration across prisons and probation in Wales with real input from the third sector, utilising people capital.
“Following that event, I went out with the National Probation Service to meet Eagle House Youth Development, a community interest company, in Bangor, to discuss their work with young people involved with or at risk of committing crime. They were picked, for example, by the Jobcentre for their stand at the Royal Welsh Show this year as the lead third sector body that they were working with in helping young people who perhaps fell into those potential characteristics or might be at risk in the future. So, how will you engage with organisations such as Eagle House?
“Also, last week I hosted the launch of the Clean Slate Cymru toolkit at an event celebrating the Clean Slate Cymru project in the Pierhead, with Construction Youth Trust Cymru, the Construction Industry Training Board, and construction company BAM Nuttall, celebrating a pan-Wales project to support people with convictions into construction employment, and the launch of a guide on how the construction industry can engage with ex-offenders in prisons and communities across Wales and achieve social value by training ex-offenders, finding employment in the construction sector, work placements, skills training and much else besides.
“Have you engaged, or will you be looking to engage with these leading projects that are already making a difference and have brought together the third sector, the private sector and some Government agencies who were present, on this agenda?
Mr Isherwood also questioned the Cabinet Secretary over his engagement with the UK Government since its announcement that, “instead of five community prisons for women in England and Wales, they'll trial five residential centres to help women offenders with issues such as finding work, substance misuse and so on, where those on community sentences, as recognised clearly by UK Government as well as yourself, are less likely to commit further crimes than those who've served short jail terms, with a view to having one of those centres in Wales, but also accessible within Wales?”, pointing out that people living in North Wales would have difficulty if the centre was located in Swansea or Cardiff, and vice versa.
He added: “In that context, in North Wales, and for much of Wales, female offenders who go to prison are sent to Styal. I only live 40-odd miles from Styal, so, for them, it's more accessible than somewhere in mid Wales or South Wales. But what actions have you undertaken, or are you undertaking, where women offenders, particularly Welsh-speaking women offenders, are in the English Estate, to ensure that they get the appropriate support within the prison estate to communicate and support them on release?”
Speaking outside the Chamber, Mr Isherwood added: “The UK Government has already taken the lead on these issues. Calls for the devolution of criminal justice to Wales fail to recognise that criminal activity does not recognise national or regional boundaries, and that over 1.4 million people in Wales (48% of the total) live within 25 miles of the border with England, and 2.7 million people (90% of the total) within 50 miles of the border.
“As my working contacts in criminal justice in North Wales repeatedly remind me, they have a closer affiliation with north-west England than the rest of Wales – and to force devolution ‘to satisfy the egos of certain Politicians should be carefully monitored’.