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Covid-19 in Welsh prisons

EDM (Early Day Motion) 403: tabled on 29 April 2020

Tabled in the 2019-21 session.

This motion has been signed by 7 Members. It has not yet had any amendments submitted.

Motion text

That this House is alarmed that 25 per cent of confirmed covid-19 cases in prisons in England and Wales have been in Welsh facilities, despite only having 6 per cent of the prison population; is concerned that the number of people held in Welsh prisons reached its highest ever level in March 2020 and that HMP Swansea was the most overcrowded prison in England and Wales; is further concerned that as of 28 April, only thirty-three out of 4,000 prisoners eligible for temporary release to help tackle covid-19 have so far been released, and that the number of prisoners who will be temporarily released from Welsh establishments has not been finalised; calls on the Ministry of Justice to urgently release more of those eligible for temporary release in order to stop the rapid spread of the virus in our prison system; and stresses that those being released must pose no risk to the public and must get tested for covid-19 prior to release.