Take charge of Parc prison, MP urges government

An MP has called on the UK government to take over the running of Parc prison in south Wales from private firm G4S, amid concerns about a recent spate of deaths.

Nine people have died at the Bridgend jail since the start of February, with at least four linked to substance misuse.

The call came from Labour MP Beth Winter, and another, Chris Elmore, urged increased staffing and vetting, to tackle the drugs issue.

A G4S spokesperson said it will welcome the inspectors at any time they choose to visit.

Ms Winter referred to a 2022 report that found “almost half of prisoners had easy access to drugs”, and to a Welsh Affairs Committee inquiry that established the prison is “both under-staffed and the staff are inexperienced”.

In the Commons the Cynon Valley MP asked Justice Minister Edward Argar if he would "welcome a new inspection of Parc by the chief inspector".

"And given the £400m cost of the contract to G4S to run the prison, has he given consideration to the prison service stepping in to manage it as it has done with Birmingham prison?" she added.

The UK government took control of Birmingham Prison from G4S in 2018.

Mr Argar argued that the contract with Parc “continues to perform well”, while acknowledging there is “more to do”.

He added that X-ray body scanners and handheld devices are among the measures being introduced to tackle drugs at the facility, and that “any inspection is a matter for the chief inspector of prisons”.

Labour shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Report after report, failure after failure. At Parc prison nine people have died in just two months.”

She also highlighted issues at other prisons in the UK.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk responded by saying there are “prisons where the standards are not where we want them to be”, but pointed to improvements he said the government had made around the UK, including at HMP Liverpool, which he said “has been turned around”.

G4S has managed HMP Parc since it opened in 1997 and received a 10-year contract to continue operating it in 2022.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Mr Elmore, the Ogmore MP, said he also wanted to see enhanced scanning and searching, as well as “appropriate staff training” and vetting of new recruits to ensure new staff are not bringing in drugs.

“This isn’t about all prison officers being bad at their jobs or bringing in drugs on to the prison estate in Parc, but inevitably there are problems with a minority," he said.

Mr Elmore also said he had been contacted by people with family members within the prison who raised “deep concern” about the drugs situation inside the prison.

“We need to remember there are many reasons people go to prison, many not for drug-related incidents, but what we do see is many vulnerable people then being exposed to the criminal nature of drugs being shared within prison,” he said.

On Monday Mr Argar said 400 members of staff at Parc had been trained to use an anti-opioid medicine amid concerns about drugs.

He added that the government was looking “very carefully” at nitazenes, which were linked to dozens of deaths in the UK last year.

While he said two deaths at the prison in May were “not currently linked to substance misuse”, he said the issue should be considered in the wider context of “the threat synthetic opioids pose” to prisons and the country.

“There have been extensive searches of prisoners and staff. Any suspicious substances are tested on site with rapid scan,” he said.

Stephen Crabb, Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, told the Commons there had been “multiple allegations of the staff themselves bringing in illegal substances into the prison”.

A prison spokesperson said the safety of prisoners and staff are “our number one priority”, adding that “the vast majority of our staff are hard-working and honest”.

“We use a range of tactics to tackle the ingress of drugs and reduce demand. This includes robust security measures for staff, visitors and prisons, as well as substance misuse support for those in our care,” the spokesperson added.