Welsh Affairs Chair ‘deeply concerned’ by ‘abusive’ behaviour at HMP Parc

The Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee has written to the leadership of Parc prison in Bridgend, raising concerns about reports that prison officers sent messages joking about violence towards prisoners.

Leaked messages seen by the PA news agency, show one staff member at HMP Parc, a privately-run prison, suggesting they will provoke an inmate into an altercation.

“Let’s push him to go tomorrow so we can drop him,” they said.

Another message said “they smashed him into the shower lol” with someone else responding “good, I hope they hurt him too”.

G4S, which runs Parc, insisted they are committed to “rooting out wrongdoing” and have a zero-tolerance approach to staff behaviour that falls short.

Scrutiny

The prison has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, with 17 inmates having died at HMP Parc in 2024 – more than at any other prison that year – and the arrest of several members of staff.

In December, MPs heard contraband was being taken into the prison in “children’s nappies”, while there were “industrial specification drone drops” from organised crime gangs.

In another leaked message, an officer said: “I punched the f*** in to him after he bit me so there’s some closure (laughing emoji).

“He threw his food tray in (redacted’s) face so I dropped him.”

Another said a man who self-harmed was “daft” and needed to go “to a f****** lonnie (sic) bin”.

Offensive

The Chair, Newport MP Ruth Jones, says the Committee is “deeply concerned” about reports concerning the excessive use of force and inappropriate use of social media to discuss treating prisoners in a derogatory, offensive and abusive manner.

She also asked for an urgent update on the guidance G4S sets for prison officers at Parc, including how it sanctions prison officers who violate these guidelines.

The Chair adds that whilst the Committee is grateful for the quarterly progress report on HMP Parc it received from HMPPS, “we were disappointed both by its lack of detail, and the fact that we were unable to publish it.”

“This lack of transparency is deeply unhelpful for the confidence Parc needs to rebuild amongst the local community and the families of the men held at HMP Parc,” she writes.

The letter, sent to Will Styles, Director of HMP Parc, and Gordon Brockington, Managing Director of G4S Care and Rehabilitation Services, is available to read on the Committee’s website.

‘Alarming’

Ruth Jones, said: “I am deeply concerned about the latest media reports from Parc. Even if many of these messages are historic, they paint an alarming picture of demeaning and offensive behaviour towards prisoners.

“That seventeen Parc inmates died last year remains a sobering reminder of the risks if prisoner safety is not made a priority.

“Local communities around Parc, and the families of men held there, must be able to trust that inmates are being treated with dignity. But Parc’s initially encouraging commitment to improvements has been sullied by a lack of transparency. That isn’t good enough for inmates and their families.

“Safety at Parc prison remains a top priority for our committee. I plan to meet with the Ministry of Justice to raise our concerns around how the prison’s progress is being monitored, and to discuss the prison’s existing governance arrangements.”