HMP Berwyn has been highly praised by the man in charge of an inquiry scrutinising Welsh prisons.

Welsh Affairs Select Committee members spoke to staff and inmates during a visit to the prison on Wrexham Industrial Estate yesterday.

Inquiry chairman David Davies MP said: "I think we were all pleasantly surprised by what we found at Berwyn.

"We had been led to believe that perhaps there were problems there, but that certainly wasn't the impression we had."

Mr Davies' comments come in stark contrast to the views of Frances Crook, chairman of the Howard League for Prison Reform, at the inquiry's first session in Westminster last week.

She raised several concerns about facilities, adding: "Our prisons are shameful and Berwyn is going to be shameful very soon. It was built in a way that even Victorians would not build."

But Mr Davies said he had visited several prisons, but he had never before found a site where so many people were willing to praise the staff.

The inquiry is looking at a range of topics, including cross-border issues and provision of services such as health, education and rehabilitation in Welsh prisons.

The MP expects the select committee's inquiry to last a few more months.

Governor Russ Trent has looked to instil an ethos of rehabilitation at the prison, which has a 2,100 capacity and took its first inmates in February last year.

Mr Davies, MP for Monmouthshire, added: "I think the culture of first name terms and rehabilitation isn't something I would be instinctively supportive of, because I suppose my political views instincts are fairly far from the prison league (Howard League for Prison Reform), but this seems to be working.

"Many of your readers may work in the prison, or have family members who do, and I think they're doing a really good job."

Two projects in North Wales have won prestigious RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Awards - including a prison.

The design of HMP Berwyn in Wrexham topped the Community Benefit category in this year's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) awards.