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Wales has the highest rate of citizens locked up of any country in Western Europe, shocking new figures show.

One in every 667 people in the country is behind bars, according to the research carried out by the Wales Governance Centre.

Critics condemned the findings, saying they proved that having Wales' justice system managed from London was not working for the country.

Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru AM for North Wales, also highlighted the report's findings of what he called the "institutional failure" of Berwyn prison in Wrexham, the UK's largest jail.

He said: "The new model prison that is Berwyn has so far failed to live up to the claims made about it . Only last month another damning report revealed that a quarter of inmates developed a drug problem while in HMP Berwyn, which suggests it’s part of the problem rather than being part of the solution.”

Berwyn prison opened in 2017 to much fanfare. It was supposed to eventually house 2,100 inmates. Two years on, there are only 1,300 prisoners in the jail.

But while the population of the prison has risen by 116%, the number of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults has risen by 338%.

And the number of attacks on guards has increased by 405%, from 40 in 2017 to 202 last year.

The Ministry of Justice has said that it is putting plans in place to reduce violence and access to drugs in prisons.