Bereaved families have gathered outside HMP Parc in Bridgend following nine sudden deaths at the prison since the end of February.

Security firm G4S has managed the prison since it opened in 1997 and it received a 10-year contract to continue operating it in 2022.

A G4S spokesperson said that HMP Parc ‘has for a long time had a good reputation as a safe and decent prison’, according to the last inspection by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Frances Jones’ nephew Mikey, 19, died at the prison just less than three weeks ago after struggling with addiction and had been recently recalled to prison. He took his own life.

She told ITV Wales: "Where were [the prison guards]? He was on [suicide] watch. Why was it that he was allowed to die?

"We can’t stand here and say Mikey had done it to get any sort of help. We can’t say that because we weren’t there.