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Welsh Affairs

The hon. Gentleman knows that I was very vocal on that subject at the time. I thought it was a complete waste of resources, time and effort. The process was abandoned, leaving four of our police forces much poorer, and although compensation was paid, it did not nearly meet the amount of money that had to be expended on a wasteful and useless administrative exercise. Quite frankly, the police have better things to do with their time. That matter is no different, however, from the issues we face in other areas of law and order, such as prison overcrowding. I hope that the Secretary of State will address that disgrace in all our prisons, and specifically in Welsh prisons. They are overcrowded and full to bursting. Prisoners have to be released early and we know that often prisoners are released early merely to reoffend. The Government have this great idea of huge, bright and shiny new prisons, but that is not the right solution for Wales or even for the UK. They may supply more prison places for a sort of factory system, but they will do nothing to rehabilitate prisoners and prevent them from reoffending. It remains a sad fact that there are no women's prisons in Wales, nor is there a prison in north Wales. Consequently, Welsh prisoners are often held far from home, are unable to rehabilitate themselves and are unable to keep those family contacts that are so important in getting a man or woman back on the straight and narrow.