news story

4th December 2009

MP Visits Prison with Justice Secretary

Local MP Steve Webb visited Eastwood Park women's prison in Falfield on Thursday with Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who was looking at how the prison system treats female inmates.

Commenting after the visit, Steve Webb said:

"I have visited Eastwood Park on a number of occasions in the past, and it was encouraging to see that progress is being made on the worrying issue of self-harm among prison inmates. The work done to educate inmates was also encouraging, since a vital part of prison must be to prepare people to make a more constructive contribution to society on their release.

"I was also pleased to discuss with the governor and the chair of the Monitoring Board ways in which the prison could work constructively with the local community to tackle particular problems which have been raised in the past, and I will be taking these issues forward as a result of the visit."