2nd Report – Jagged Justice: Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation in Wales

Key findings

• Partnership between UK and Welsh Governments is positive but often depends on individual commitment rather than formal statutory structures; earlier engagement and systematic co-design of services is essential.
• Wales has consistently higher imprisonment rates than England and most of Western Europe, but the Ministry of Justice lacks clear explanation of the trend and has not previously attempted systematic investigation.
• Independent Monitoring Boards have been unable to function effectively due to resource constraints; HMP Parc's IMB had only two members when it should have had 17, preventing production of its 2023–24 annual report.
• Welsh women in custody are routinely held far from home in English prisons with no women's prisons in Wales; high self-harm rates and short custodial sentences that often damage rehabilitation outcomes are documented concerns.
• While Wales-specific justice data publication has improved with the September 2025 annual release, significant gaps remain and access to additional datasets still requires Freedom of Information requests.

Recommendations

• Ministry of Justice should engage and co-ordinate with Welsh Government as early as possible when formulating policy, adopting co-design and co-commissioning approaches, replicating the collaborative approach in Women's and Youth Justice Blueprints.
• UK and Welsh Governments should co-author a Memorandum of Understanding to place bodies such as the Criminal Justice Board for Wales on an established footing with statutory meeting requirements.
• UK Government should continue prioritising prison system stabilisation while balancing manifesto commitment to explore devolution of probation and youth justice; include in response a checklist of measures and timelines needed to reach final devolution decision.
• Ministry of Justice should continue engagement with Wales Governance Centre and Welsh Government on Wales-specific justice data publication, providing annual written updates aligned with Welsh Justice Data release dates on progress publishing remaining datasets.
• Ministry of Justice and Welsh Government should co-commission a joint academic review investigating what is driving Wales' relatively high imprisonment rate, with findings shared within twelve months.
• Ministry of Justice should work with Independent Monitoring Board National Chair to prioritise IMB sustainability through targeted recruitment campaign with focus on bilingual Welsh speakers, and outline staffing levels in response.
• Swansea Residential Women's Centre must be a genuine alternative to custody, not a prison in all but name; urgent action needed to complete its opening with full transparency on delays.

Key actors

Ruth Jones (Welsh Affairs Committee Chair), Lord Timpson (Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending), Dr Rob Jones (Cardiff University), Ian Barrow (Executive Director HMPPS in Wales), Elisabeth Davies (National Chair Independent Monitoring Boards), Charlie Taylor (HM Chief Inspector of Prisons), Keith Fraser (Chair Youth Justice Board)