Prisons in Wales

The prisons in Wales are run by Her Majesty's Prison Service, which is in turn a part of the National Offender Management Service which is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice responsible for the correctional services in England and Wales. The objectives of prison confinement in Wales is threefold: to "hold prisoners securely", to "reduce the risk of prisoners re-offending" and to "provide safe and well-ordered establishments in which we treat prisoners humanely, decently and lawfully".

Although the concept of incarceration as a punishment for wrongdoing did not exist in Wales, as in the rest of Britain, during the medieval period, from Tudor times onwards correction houses began appearing throughout the country. In the 18th century several buildings began taking on the function of modern prisons, and in 1878 Welsh prisons came under centralised government control. Today there are four prisons in Wales; three are run directly by the government with Parc Prison in Bridgend being Wales' only privatised jail.

The concept of incarcerating individuals as a punishment for crimes did not exist in Wales before or during the medieval period. The early castles of the Welsh rulers and marcher-lords did possess dungeons, but the purpose of these facilities were for the confinement of hostages and political prisoners, people who may have committed no crime. Up to the 17th century the most common punishments for criminal offences were fines, corporal punishment and executions. The earliest forms of prisons, which began appearing in the early modern period, were created for the purposes of holding those awaiting trial and to house debtors. From the Tudor period magistrates were given powers by the state to establish correction houses for the punishment of those committing petty crimes and a way to amend the ways of vagrants.

From the 18th century the institutions that would begin to have the function of modern prisons began to appear in Aberystwyth, Bangor and Beaumaris. These buildings were used to house criminals for a set period of time after being sentenced by a court. The condition of early prisons in Wales was rudimentary and with few amenities for the imprisoned. In his 1777 work State of the Prisons prison reformer John Howard mentions two Welsh jails, Caernarfon county jail and Swansea town jail. Caernarfon is described as having neither drainage or fresh water and the inmates housed in tiny windowless cells.

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