The Ministry of Justice has failed staff and prisoners alike in its failure to remedy the faults reported in a 2014 inspection of Swansea prison. BBC has a summary of the findings of the latest official inspection here. Terms like "not fit for purpose", "inexcusable" and "gone backwards" leap out at one from the report.
It seems to me that civil servants in the MoJ have taken the view that, since there will soon be a new "super-prison" for South Wales which will enable closure of gaols in Cardiff and Swansea, there was no need to maintain standards, let alone improve them, in Swansea.
There is a good case for keeping local prisons open, especially for first offenders. Rehabilitation is more likely, aided by the ease of visiting. One understands the need for extra prison places to reduce overcrowding generally (but why have governments post-Blair done nothing to reduce the number of imprisonable offences created by New Labour?), but it should not be at the expense of localism. If Swansea prison is incapable of refurbishment to modern standards, even with a reduced prisoner population, then it should be knocked down - but it should be replaced.
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