NO NEW prisons will be built in Wales until cross-border justice arrangements have been reviewed, a Welsh Government minister has said.

In a letter to AMs local government and public services secretary Alun Davies has said he was concerned prison inmates in Wales "are not receiving the services and support they need to ensure that they can be effectively rehabilitated and supported not to re-offend".

The Blaenau Gwent AM added he believed, without a "meaningful and in-depth discussion" on the issue with the Minister of Justice, demand on public services in Wales would continue to increase.

"Until we have considered this in more detail and had more detailed discussions with the UK Government, I do not believe it is in the interests either of the Welsh Government or people in Wales, to see further prison development in Wales," he said.

"I have therefore written to the secretary of state for justice to inform him that until a more meaningful dialogue with the Welsh Government takes place, we will not facilitate the further development of prisons in Wales."

The announcement could mean the brakes have been put on a Ministry of Justice plan for a new 'super prison' in Port Talbot, with space for 1,600 inmates, which has been welcomed by Plaid Cymru South Wales West AM Bethan Sayed.

"Plaid Cymru has been consistent and clear with our view that Wales did not need, nor should we have to accommodate, more and more prisons," she said.

"We made the case that not only was a new prison wrong for Port Talbot but that it would be wrong to build another new prison, anywhere in Wales.

"We've been pressing for the Welsh Government to see the light on this, and it looks like they now have, albeit after a year of mixed messages and indecision."

There are currently five prisons in Wales, including HMP Usk and Prescoed, which operates on two sites. The others are in Cardiff, Bridgend, Swansea and Wrexham.

All of these cater entirely for male offenders, meaning any women sentenced to jail in Wales have to be sent to a prison in England.

Policing and criminal justice is currently controlled entirely by Westminster.