Resources not there for prison numbers - retired senior judge

Prison and probation systems in England and Wales are facing "huge challenges", the former lord chief justice Lord Thomas has said.

The recently retired senior lawyer is chairing a commission looking into the future of Wales' legal system.

In a speech laying out issues the commission may examine, he said resources were not being provided for the size of the prison population.

Rehabilitation for convicted criminals has "waned", he said.

Carmarthen-born Lord Thomas outlined some of the issues the commission could look at - including the legal profession, the courts, and the legal jurisdiction - at the Pierhead in Cardiff Bay on Friday.

He will examine how a "distinct" Welsh justice system could be established as part of the review, set up by First Minister Carwyn Jones.

"There is a huge problem facing the criminal justice system in England and Wales in relation to both prisons and probation, and therefore it is worth looking at (whether we) could do things better," Lord Thomas said.

He added there was "little doubt that the prison population has grown to an extent that the resources that are required to fund it properly are simply not being provided".

Lord Thomas said it was "very difficult" for any government in Westminster to pass laws that reduces lengths of prison terms, and said the population was rising because of the numbers of those getting "increasingly longer sentences".

"The pressure on the prison system is very high. The prospect of rehabilitation has waned," he said.

Lord Thomas suggested it could be explored whether a system designed for England to cope with "large cities" was right for Wales with its different "demography".

In the wide-ranging lecture the former lord chief justice, who retired earlier in October, argued Wales' legal profession had not caught up with challenges facing the legal profession as a result of technological advances.

"There's in Wales, I regret to say... a lack of understanding", he said, saying change was "inevitable".

The former lord chief justice said there had not been an inquiry into Wales' legal system since the 19th century.

There was "no question", he argued, that Wales has a distinctive identity "as regards the law" now it is "some years into devolution".

Emphasising that he was giving his own views, and that he wanted to hear others, Lord Thomas suggested one question facing the commission was whether it was right for justice to be operated "without it being part of a devolved area of government", when it is "fundamental to society".