JUSTICE secretary Jack Straw has visited Eastwood Park Prison to see how female inmates are dealt with in the prison service.

Last Thursday Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw, joined by Northavon MP Steve Webb, toured the women's prison as part of a fact-finding mission.

The MPs were shown all areas of the prison, including a special mother-and-baby unit and another unit, which enables 17-year-olds to be detained separately from the main adult prison. They also saw a new facility designed to work with inmates with serious mental health problems and those who had repeatedly harmed themselves whilst in prison.

At the end of the tour, Mr Straw and Mr Webb met representatives from the trade unions for prison staff and the chairman of the Independent Monitoring Board, whose volunteer members go in to the prison and seek to ensure the prison works effectively.

Mr Webb said: "I have visited Eastwood Park on a number of occasions in the past, and it was encouraging to see that progress is being made on the worrying issue of self-harm among prison inmates. The work done to educate inmates was also encouraging, since a vital part of prison must be to prepare people to make a more constructive contribution to society on their release. "I was also pleased to discuss with the governor and the chair of the Monitoring Board ways in which the prison could work constructively with the local community to tackle particular problems which have been raised in the past, and I will be taking these issues forward as a result of the visit."

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Justice, said: "We are committed to diverting vulnerable women, who are not serious or dangerous offenders, from custody. "As part of the government's strategy following the major independent report on vulnerable women in the criminal justice system by Baroness Corston, we are providing £15.6 million to cut crime and reduce re-offending by providing additional services in the community for those women offenders and women at risk of offending."