Prisoners: Welsh Language
(asked on 8th September 2026) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners held in Welsh prisons were recorded as Welsh speaking at the end of (a) March, (b) June, (c) September and (d) December 2025, by prison in Wales.
The following tables provide a breakdown of the numbers of prisoners in Wales who had Welsh language recorded as their preferred spoken language or Welsh language recorded as a second spoken language during the time periods specified.
~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
Preferred language:
| March 25 | June 25 | Sept 25 | Dec 25 |
HMP USK | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
HMP PRESCOED | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
HMP CARDIFF | ~ | ~ | ~ | 0 |
HMP BERWYN | 53 | 53 | 56 | 53 |
HMP PARC | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
HMP SWANSEA | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
Second language:
| March 25 | June 25 | Sept 25 | Dec 25 |
HMP USK | 19 | 17 | 15 | 15 |
HMP PRESCOED | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
HMP CARDIFF | 22 | 19 | 25 | 23 |
HMP BERWYN | 59 | 51 | 66 | 80 |
HMP PARC | 47 | 31 | 45 | 43 |
HMP SWANSEA | 18 | 15 | 18 | 22 |
This data is reflective of improved Welsh language prisoner breakdowns, with annual summaries planned for publishing in HMPPS’ next Welsh Language Scheme Annual Monitoring Report in October 2026.