English: I'm pleased that we're having this debate, and I'm just really disappointed at the Conservatives' contribution, not just today, but in the inquiry as well. I must admit that when our committee embarked on this inquiry I was sceptical. As a former probation officer, who keeps a keen interest in the justice system even though it isn't devolved, I thought it would be odd for us, as a committee, to rock up to various prisons to talk to prisoners about something that was in our interest. We're well aware of the range of problems that prisoners face, from homelessness to drug and alcohol problems, mental health, family breakdown, abuse, domestic violence, yet we were not going to the prisons to talk to people about those issues, we were asking prisoners and staff instead about their views on voting, presumably for us. I have to say that I felt a bit uncomfortable about it all. But how wrong could I be? It soon became clear, on our visits, to HMP Parc and HMP Eastwood Park that some of these prisoners could see a way through our inquiry of putting their concerns on the agenda by having the vote. At present, who is listening to them? Do they have a voice at all? No, they don't. Prisoners have been forgotten and marginalised by policy makers, politicians and wider society, and here we have an opportunity to do something to change that. There are disagreements as to the purpose of prison. Is prison solely about punishment? Should we make life in prison so awful for people that they would see it as a deterrent and be absolutely determined never to go back? If that's how we see it, then conditions and rights don't matter. Yet people then end up wondering why people who go through the prison system come out more damaged and more criminally inclined. Prison without a rehabilitation element is little more than a crime factory. My view is that prison should not only be a punishment, but it should also be a tool to protect the public and to try and rehabilitate the person so that they don't commit further offences on release. A rehabilitative approach results in lower crime and a safer society, as any honest comparison between Scandinavian countries and the UK would reveal. We should be aiming to reduce the prison population by rehabilitating more people and treating people like the citizens that they are and that we want them to be. It is for these reasons that I support extending the franchise to prisoners and I endorse the recommendations of this committee report. Being given the opportunity to vote is a reminder to prisoners that they are still a citizen despite being punished for a crime. It's a reminder that they are going to be released one day and that there are expectations on them as a citizen. Being allowed to put that cross in that box can help to reintegrate and include prisoners in wider society. For me, although I was initially sceptical as to the usefulness of this inquiry to the prison population, I became more and more convinced that it was the right thing to do. It is nothing short of a scandal that if you are a woman sentenced to prison that you have to be incarcerated in another country with no access to your family, to the Welsh news, to your rehabilitation network and that alone should be a good enough reason to devolve the criminal justice system, so that we can do something just about that. Voting is not a privilege and it shouldn't be seen as such. Voting is something that we should want all of our citizens to be doing. For me, this is a question where Wales could signal that we could things differently, more humanely with more compassion. This report gives the Government such an opportunity and I very much hope it takes it up.
Welsh: Rwy'n falch ein bod ni'n cael y ddadl hon, ac rwy'n siomedig iawn ynglŷn â chyfraniad y Ceidwadwyr, nid yn unig heddiw, ond yn yr ymchwiliad hefyd. Rhaid i mi gyfaddef fy mod yn amheus pan ddechreuodd ein pwyllgor yr ymchwiliad hwn. Fel cyn-swyddog prawf, sydd â diddordeb brwd yn y system gyfiawnder er nad yw wedi'i datganoli, roeddwn yn credu y byddai'n rhyfedd i ni, fel pwyllgor, ymweld â gwahanol garchardai i siarad â charcharorion am rywbeth a oedd er ein lles ni. Rydym yn ymwybodol iawn o ystod y problemau y mae carcharorion yn eu hwynebu, o ddigartrefedd i broblemau cyffuriau ac alcohol, iechyd meddwl, chwalfa deuluol, cam-drin, trais yn y cartref, ac eto nid oeddem yn mynd i'r carchardai i siarad â phobl am y materion hynny, ond yn hytrach, roeddem yn gofyn i garcharorion a staff am eu barn ar bleidleisio, drosom ni mae'n debyg. Mae'n rhaid i mi ddweud i mi deimlo braidd yn anghyfforddus am y cyfan. Ond roeddwn i'n anghywir. Daeth yn amlwg yn fuan yn ystod ein hymweliadau â charchar Parc a charchar Eastwood Park y gallai rhai o'r carcharorion hyn weld ffordd drwy ein hymchwiliad o roi eu pryderon ar yr agenda drwy gael y bleidlais. Ar hyn o bryd, pwy sy'n gwrando arnynt? A oes ganddynt lais o gwbl? Nac oes. Mae carcharorion wedi cael eu hanghofio a'u bwrw i'r cyrion gan lunwyr polisi, gwleidyddion a'r gymdeithas ehangach, ac yma mae gennym gyfle i wneud rhywbeth i newid hynny. Mae pobl yn anghytuno ynghylch diben carchar. Ai ymwneud yn unig â chosbi y mae carchar? A ddylem wneud bywyd yn y carchar mor ofnadwy i bobl fel y byddent yn ei weld fel ataliad ac yn gwbl benderfynol o beidio â mynd yn ôl? Os mai dyna sut y'i gwelwn, nid yw amodau a hawliau yn bwysig. Ac eto, mae pobl yn meddwl pam y mae pobl sy'n mynd drwy system y carchardai'n dod allan wedi'u niweidio fwy ac yn tueddu i fod yn fwy troseddol. Nid yw carchar heb elfen adsefydlu yn fawr mwy na ffatri droseddau. Yn fy marn i, dylai carchar fod yn gosb, ond dylai hefyd fod yn offeryn i ddiogelu'r cyhoedd a cheisio adsefydlu'r unigolyn fel nad yw'n cyflawni rhagor o droseddau ar ôl ei ryddhau. Mae dull adsefydlu yn arwain at lai o droseddu a chymdeithas fwy diogel, fel y byddai unrhyw gymhariaeth onest rhwng gwledydd Sgandinafia a'r DU yn ei ddangos. Dylem anelu at leihau poblogaeth y carchardai drwy adsefydlu mwy o bobl a thrin pobl fel y dinasyddion ag yr ydynt a'r dinasyddion yr ydym eisiau iddynt fod. Am y rhesymau hyn rwy'n cefnogi ymestyn yr etholfraint i gynnwys carcharorion ac rwy'n cymeradwyo argymhellion yr adroddiad pwyllgor hwn. Mae cael y cyfle i bleidleisio yn atgoffa carcharorion eu bod yn dal yn ddinasyddion er iddynt gael eu cosbi am droseddu. Mae'n eu hatgoffa eu bod yn mynd i gael eu rhyddhau un diwrnod a bod disgwyliadau arnynt fel dinasyddion. Gall cael y cyfle i roi croes yn y blwch helpu i ailintegreiddio a chynnwys carcharorion yn y gymdeithas ehangach. I mi, er fy mod yn amheus i ddechrau ynghylch defnyddioldeb yr ymchwiliad hwn i boblogaeth y carchardai, deuthum yn fwyfwy argyhoeddedig mai dyma oedd y peth cywir i'w wneud. Os ydych yn fenyw a ddedfrydwyd i'r carchar, mae'n warthus fod yn rhaid i chi gael eich carcharu mewn gwlad arall heb fynediad at eich teulu, at y newyddion o Gymru, at eich rhwydwaith adsefydlu, a dylai hynny ynddo'i hun fod yn rheswm digon da dros ddatganoli'r system cyfiawnder troseddol, er mwyn inni allu gwneud rhywbeth am hynny. Nid braint yw pleidleisio ac ni ddylai gael ei ystyried felly. Mae pleidleisio'n rhywbeth y dylem fod eisiau i bob un o'n dinasyddion ei wneud. I mi, mae hwn yn gwestiwn lle y gallai Cymru ddangos y gallem wneud pethau'n wahanol, yn fwy trugarog, gyda mwy o dosturi. Mae'r adroddiad hwn yn rhoi cyfle i'r Llywodraeth ac rwy'n mawr obeithio y bydd yn manteisio arno.