HMP & YOI Parc

Key Contact Details

HMP&YOI Parc opened in Bridgend in 1997 as one of the first prisons in the UK to be financed, built, and run by the private sector, and remains the only privately operated prison in Wales, run by G4S. It is a Category B prison holding remand and sentenced adult men alongside young people and young offenders across 23 wings, with a capacity that has grown well beyond the roughly 800 places it held when it first opened.

Parc has faced very serious safety concerns in recent years. In 2024 it recorded 17 deaths in custody, the highest number of any prison in England and Wales that year, and a January 2025 inspection by HM Inspectorate of Prisons rated the prison “not sufficiently good” or “poor” across all four healthy prison tests, citing high violence, widespread illicit drug use including dangerous synthetic opioids, and inadequate mental health and substance misuse support. A follow-up review in January 2026 found insufficient progress on more than half of the concerns raised, with violence up 25% over six months, although drug testing rates had fallen as new security measures took effect. Because of these ongoing concerns, a UK parliamentary committee has called on the government to pause planned expansion of the prison until safety improves.

Given how serious these findings are, families with a loved one at Parc may understandably feel very worried. You can ask the prison directly about someone’s welfare using the details above, and the Samaritans (116 123, free, 24 hours) are available to anyone who needs to talk, inside or outside prison.