A steel industry, not steel bars: The case against HMP Port Talbot

Well, one would expect the tories and uk fascist alliance to be in favour of prisons - more incarceration equals more wet dreams for the disgusting right. And didn't Stalin, and Lenin have a penchant for prisons on a 'grand scale'. Our local Marxist Leninists must have had their noses in 'Das Kapital' and read about the delights of mass incarceration. Welsh Labor wouldn't know a principle if it bit them on the nose!

Well, I enjoyed the article! Hopefully we will stop the British dumping English deliquents and the odd unionist, I guess, on any door stop in Cymru there needs to be a compulsory purchase of the Port Talbot Steel site to protect it for Cymru. Because when Independence comes we'll need such a site to construct the worlds largest renewable energy and technological site. Where new inovations are produced, tried, tested and manufactured. The industrial workforce is skilled in many ways and retraining would be more cost effective than training (at first) from scratch. The first English colony will not be the last English penal colony, in fact we are going to be free!

Why is it permission can be given for this prison to be built on a Flood Plain when Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council has used a Flood Plain at the old Aberpergwm Colliery as an excuse for the last ten years to not build a new Health Centre at Glynneath/Cwmgwrach, which is at the top end of the Neath Valley.An apparent flood Plain that held the weight of a colliery screens and rail yard also heavy lorries using the road ways every day for a couple of centuries. Stinks of extreme double standards.

Port Talbot made vast profits for the bosses who owned the steel mills....yet the community looks poor to me.........its almost as if Wales is an exploited colony hmm

If Wales was an Independent Nation then this argument would hold water. Currently Wales is within the British Prison system. Her Majesty's Prison Service! Plaid Cymru would do better to attack the Unelected Monarchy and the Class system that created the Victorian Prisons that housed the so called criminals of the home nations. These criminals are human beings like you and I. Who knows people commenting on Nation might have done a bit of bird themselves. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are societies left behinds. They might be political prisoners. I would argue against Prison full stop as a form of punishment. It alienates, it doesn't rehabilitate and it creates dependence on a system that takes all responsibility away from the individual. What about expanding the Prison farm system where inmates are outside cultivating the land and growing food. Post Brexit, prisoners could take on the role left by the economic migrants doing the fruit picking. Obviously not in Wales. Welsh Prisoners for Welsh Prisons.

I admit to having had a bit of a downer about Bethan J. She has previously hit some high notes but frequently distracted into some odd stances & behaviours. In this article she shows good form, has real grasp of several issues surrounding the proposed prison and the wider economic & social factors that impact upon Port Talbot and its environs. Having been "persuaded" to surrender part of their pensions entitlement the local steel workers should be guaranteed security if the merger of assets goes ahead between TATA and ThK, otherwise their entitlements should revert to the original standard. Indeed if steel ever enjoys prosperity again world wide there is no reason why those benefits should not be reinstated . TATA's stakeholders will do well from recovery as will ThK, so let the rank and file enjoy those fruits also. So Bethan now you are operating in a high gear make sure that you keep a sharp focus on this patch. Muster colleagues also, as the likes of Adam Price made some sound observations when the pensions debate was ongoing. One or more of your colleagues may have an interest in the leisure/recreation portfolio - check out out where the local communities stand on the proposed conversion of parts of the Afan Valley into a privately owned "activities" centre, funded to some significant degree by public funds. Many people enjoy the "free air" at Afan Argoed and walk the high ground above Glyncorrwg over towards Resolven or follow the ridge to points further north, despite the growth of wind turbines in the area. Allowing some enterprising bloke to privatise such areas while funding his risk taking with public money goes against the grain so make sure that if it happens that the financial agreements are tight and binding. Better still find ways of killing it off so that we continue the freedoms we have now.

Please keep you're support for port talbot and stop this prison coming here its not a suitable site to build on and you're all to aware of these disadvantages taibach is my birth place and we've had our share of dirt in this little village in my time there's been tin copper coal and steel we have accepted all of these industries because they give work and security to families but to the outside of Wales we are classed has the dirtiest town in Wales so please give the thumbs down for this prison in my town and the people who live there its not 100per cent that it will benefit them please stop making Wales the penal colony for England they are a bigger country than us I'm sure there is more land to house their prisoners than a little town in Wales so I'm so glad we have started to have support from other parts of Wales and people whose made a mark in their lives and live outside of Wales so please keep the pressure up and start keeping Wales clean and no prison Thank you xx