'prison made me eat only potatoes'

A VETERAN language campaigner claims he was banned from taking a Welsh Bible into jail and forced to eat only potatoes while behind bars at Bridgend's Parc Prison.

Carmarthenshire Welsh activist, Ffred Ffransis, of Llanfihangel-ar-arth, was sentenced to five days at Llanelli magistrates on Monday for refusing to pay an eight-year-old fine of £100.

However, the 60-year-old campaigner, who was released at 8.30am on Wednesday, said he was appalled at the lack of effort to serve the Welsh community.

He claims he was reduced to eating only potatoes because he refused to fill in an English-only form to request vegetarian food. And he claims he could not get a Welsh language Bible.

The prison is managed by Group 4 Securicor on behalf of the Prison Service. A spokeswoman for G4 Securicor denied the allegations. She said: "The prisoner was offered his own personal Welsh speaking officer to assist him at the time but it was refused. We offered everything we could provide."