PLANS for 8,000 new prison places last night prompted fresh calls for a jail to be built in North Wales. Home secretary John Reid was today expected to announce a dramatic expansion to the number of prison places in a bid to cope with the overcrowding engulfing Britain's jails. This will require a prison building programme costing hundreds of millions of pounds. Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said any such programme must include the construction of a jail in North Wales. Prisoners from the region are currently detained in HMP Altcourse, in north Liverpool - more than 100 miles from some parts of North Wales. Plaid believe Blaenau Ffestiniog is the ideal location for a jail due to its transport links and available workforce. Mr Williams, MP for Caernarfon, said: "Male prisoners from North Wales are held at HMP Altcourse which is probably the most overcrowded prison in the system. "Just by coming from North Wales a prisoner is likely to be held under over-crowded and unacceptable conditions. "Building a new prison in North Wales would improve the chances of successful rehabilitation and allow prisoners to keep contact with their families." The proposals are reported to involve two new jails with as many as 1,000 cells. The rest of the cells would be integrated at existing prisons. Home secretary Mr Reid yesterday admitted he has not "quite" negotiated the money he wants for the expansion. Mr Williams said he did not know how much a new North Wales prison would cost or how big it needed to be. The Plaid MP also accused the Prison Service of ignoring the needs of Welsh speaking prisoners in HMP Altcourse. The 78,000-capacity Prison Service is already set to increase to 80,400 by 2007. An expansion of 8,000 would take the population to 88,400 by 2011. . The bitter row between Meirionnydd Nant Conwy MP Elfyn Llwyd and Welsh secretary Peter Hain escalated last night after Mr Llwyd was not invited to the annual Wales Office summer drinks party. Plaid's parliamentary leader would normally expect to receive an invite to the event at Gwydyr House in Whitehall. But the two politicians have been locked in a furious war of words after Mr Llwyd accused the secretaryof state of offering apeerage to the late Labour rebel Peter Law to persuade him not to stand in last year's general election. | 
