Prisons in Wales

[1] Although the concept of incarceration as a punishment for wrongdoing did not exist in Wales, as in the rest of Britain, during the medieval period, from Tudor times onwards correction houses began appearing throughout the country.

[2] The early castles of the Welsh rulers and marcher-lords did possess dungeons, but the purpose of these facilities were for the confinement of hostages and political prisoners, people who may have committed no crime.

[2] The earliest forms of prisons, which began appearing in the early modern period, were created for the purposes of holding those awaiting trial and to house debtors.

From the 18th century the institutions that would begin to have the function of modern prisons began to appear in Aberystwyth, Bangor and Beaumaris.

Caernarfon is described as having neither drainage or fresh water and the inmates housed in tiny windowless cells.

[7] Work on the new prison, named HMP Berwyn, commenced in 2014 and it became partially operational in February 2017.