English: Diolch, Llywydd, and thanks to Plaid Cymru for bringing today's debate. This isn't, I would have to add, a debate that is particularly welcomed by us here on the UKIP side of the Chamber, since our view is that criminal justice is rightly a matter for the UK Government. We don't really go along with the aspirations of Plaid Cymru that criminal justice should be a devolved issue. It seems that the Welsh Labour Government are creeping by inches towards Plaid Cymru's position, so we find that we in UKIP are increasingly in opposition to Labour over many criminal justice issues as well. Perhaps I should start on areas where we do agree. UKIP doesn't see any role for private contractors working in the criminal justice sector. We think that this is necessarily a role for the state, and we would like good terms and conditions for people working in the prison system to ensure that high standards are maintained. High rates of suicide, violence and self-harm among the prison population clearly are no good thing, and we also have to take account of the increasing rates of assaults by prisoners against the prison officers. There can be a problem with short custodial sentences. To be fair, we had evidence to this effect on the communities committee last year, when we did our homelessness inquiry. Some prisoners on short sentences go into homelessness almost by default once they are released because the housing authorities haven't had any time to put any tenancy in place for them, so the released prisoner can fall into a cycle of prison and homelessness and possibly end up back in jail for reoffending after only a short time. So, there are issues over the use of short sentences. The problem with this is that serial offenders are not really appropriate for community sentences, since their track record suggests that they will in all probability reoffend, meaning that we will then have more victims of crime. And there is a problem that only two thirds of community sentences in England and Wales are actually completed. We have a problem with having enough probation officers to run the community sentences properly, so you can't just have a blanket assertion that we have to rule out short sentences. Sometimes, offenders have to be given a short sentence because there is no viable alternative. There is an issue of overcrowding in jails as the prison population has risen substantially in recent years. Plaid Cymru and Labour don't seem to want more prisons to be built; this seems to be their position, although they say that it is superprisons that they are specifically against and not prisons per se. I think that, in truth, neither Labour nor Plaid like the idea of us having prisons at all. One of the causes of overcrowding in jails is the rising population in England and Wales generally -
Welsh: Diolch, Lywydd, a diolch i Blaid Cymru am gyflwyno'r ddadl heddiw. Rhaid i mi ychwanegu nad ydym ni yma ar ochr UKIP i'r Siambr yn croesawu'r ddadl hon yn arbennig, gan mai ein barn ni yw mai mater i Lywodraeth y DU yw cyfiawnder troseddol, ac yn briodol felly. Nid ydym yn cytuno â dyheadau Plaid Cymru y dylid datganoli cyfiawnder troseddol. Mae'n ymddangos bod Llywodraeth Lafur Cymru yn cropian fesul modfedd tuag at safbwynt Plaid Cymru, felly rydym ni yn UKIP yn gwrthwynebu Llafur fwyfwy hefyd ynglŷn â llawer o faterion cyfiawnder troseddol. Efallai y dylwn ddechrau gyda'r meysydd rydym yn cytuno arnynt. Nid yw UKIP yn gweld unrhyw rôl i gontractwyr preifat allu gweithio yn y sector cyfiawnder troseddol. Rydym yn credu mai rôl i'r wladwriaeth yw hon o reidrwydd, a hoffem delerau ac amodau da ar gyfer pobl sy'n gweithio yn y system garchardai er mwyn sicrhau y cynhelir safonau uchel. Yn amlwg, nid yw cyfraddau uchel o hunanladdiad, trais a hunan-niwed ymhlith poblogaeth y carchardai yn beth da, ac mae'n rhaid inni ystyried y cyfraddau cynyddol o ymosodiadau gan garcharorion ar swyddogion carchar hefyd. Gall fod problem gyda dedfrydau byr o garchar. I fod yn deg, cawsom dystiolaeth i'r perwyl hwn ar y pwyllgor cymunedau y llynedd, pan wnaethom ein hymchwiliad i ddigartrefedd. Mae rhai carcharorion ar ddedfrydau byr yn mynd yn ddigartref bron yn ddieithriad pan gânt eu rhyddhau am nad yw'r awdurdodau tai wedi cael amser i roi tenantiaeth ar waith ar eu cyfer, felly gall carcharor sy'n cael ei ryddhau ddisgyn i gylch o garchar a digartrefedd a mynd yn ôl i garchar am aildroseddu o bosibl ar ôl amser byr yn unig. Felly, mae yna broblemau'n codi o'r defnydd o ddedfrydau byr. Y broblem gyda hyn yw nad yw dedfrydau cymunedol yn briodol mewn gwirionedd ar gyfer troseddwyr mynych, am fod eu hanes yn awgrymu y byddant yn aildroseddu yn ôl pob tebyg, sy'n golygu y bydd gennym ragor o ddioddefwyr troseddau yn sgil hynny. Ac mae'n broblem mai dwy ran o dair yn unig o ddedfrydau cymunedol sy'n cael eu cwblhau yng Nghymru a Lloegr. Mae gennym broblem gyda chael digon o swyddogion prawf i weithredu'r dedfrydau cymunedol yn iawn, felly ni allwch haeru'n gyffredinol fod rhaid inni ddiystyru dedfrydau byr. Weithiau, rhaid rhoi dedfryd fer o garchar i droseddwyr am nad oes unrhyw ddewis ymarferol arall. Ceir problem gorlenwi mewn carchardai am fod poblogaeth y carchardai wedi codi'n sylweddol yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Nid yw'n ymddangos bod Plaid Cymru a Llafur eisiau i ragor o garchardai gael eu hadeiladu; ymddengys mai dyma yw eu safbwynt, er eu bod yn dweud mai gwrthwynebu carchardai mawr yn benodol y maent ac nid carchardai fel y cyfryw. Mewn gwirionedd, nid wyf yn credu bod Llafur na Phlaid Cymru'n hoff o'r syniad o gael carchardai o gwbl. Un o achosion gorlenwi mewn carchardai yw'r boblogaeth sy'n cynyddu yng Nghymru a Lloegr yn gyffredinol -