Concern as Welsh prisoners discriminated against in comparison to their English counterparts

Emily Price

Strong concerns have been raised that Welsh speaking prisoners are being discriminated against in comparison to their English counterparts.

In October, a new report caused widespread anger after inmates at a Welsh prison claimed they were being punished for speaking Welsh, with prison staff displaying “outright hostility” to the language.

It triggered Welsh Language Commissioner, Efa Gruffudd Jones, to launch an investigation into Welsh language provision in prisons across the country.

Relaying her findings to the Welsh Affairs Committee on Wednesday (December 3) Gruffudd Jones explained that during her recent visits to prisons, she had heard that the Welsh language is prohibited from being spoken with some prisoners unable to access S4C or Radio Cymru in their cells.

The Commissioner also told the committee that prisoners were experiencing delays with Welsh correspondence – such as letters and emails – if received at all, and were unable to access religious services through Welsh despite some not knowing the Lord’s Prayer in English.

The issues were discussed by the committee almost a decade ago and the Commissioner said it was “frustrating” to be doing so again.

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts MP has raised the issue in the House of Commons several times as well as through various written parliamentary questions.

Plaid peer Carmen Smith has also recently raised the matter in the House of Lords asking the following question: “To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of universal access to Welsh language TV for prisoners in Wales.”

Smith was told that the prison service “regularly assesses” the availability of S4C across the prison estate in Wales.

But Plaid says the regular assessments can’t be sufficient enough given the Welsh Language Commissioner’s recent probe.

Unequal treatment

Plaid Cymru says the commissioner’s findings highlight unequal treatment between Welsh people and English people despite the Welsh Language Act 1993 placing a duty on public bodies to treat the English and Welsh languages as equal in Wales.

Plaid MP Llinos Medi said: “Yesterday’s Welsh Affairs Committee session on prisons in Wales was very insightful but also concerning. Under the Welsh Language Act 1993, every public body has a legal duty to treat the Welsh and English languages as equal in Wales. What we heard made it clear that this obligation is simply not being met in our prisons.

“The Welsh Language Commissioner stated that she has a ‘list of concerns’ about how the language is treated, including shocking reports that inmates are prohibited from speaking Welsh to one another, to parents during visits, and even during confidential meetings with their own lawyers. There have been other reports recently from Berwyn Prison that some prisoners have been threatened with punishments by officers for using Welsh. This kind of behaviour drags us back to the attitudes and prejudices of the 19th century.

“The complete lack of access to S4C or Radio Cymru in cells – something which should be considered the most basic level of cultural and linguistic provision – is just another way in which the Welsh language is being undermined. If prisons are meant to be places of rehabilitation, then they must foster an environment that supports identity, dignity, and reintegration, especially if individuals are to return to our communities and build lives free from crime.

“It is telling that such issues were raised with the Welsh Affairs Committee a decade ago, and that not much has improved in that time. The evidence that we heard raises serious and urgent questions about the system, and it is now essential that these issues are examined fully and properly addressed.”

The Ministry of Justice was invited to comment.