Families protest outside Parc prison after series of deaths - live updates

Families of inmates who died at a Welsh prison are protesting outside it today to call for change. Bridgend's HMP Parc is in the midst of a scandal over a spate of inmate deaths and allegations of rampant drug-dealing and violence.

Earlier this month, the prisons minister, Edward Argar faced questions from MPs after WalesOnline revealed the jail had seen nine sudden deaths in under three months, as well as former staff members' and prisoners' allegations of drug-dealing, corruption, chronic understaffing and a lack of mental health support. Organisers of the protest claim Parc is "at crisis point" and a "failed prison". We will have the latest updates in the live blog, which you can see by scrolling down this page.

One of the organisers is Zack Griffiths, a 31-year-old from Llanelli who was imprisoned in Parc for three months last year. He told WalesOnline that the psychoactive drug spice was readily available even in the segregation wing, and has called for private security giant G4S, which runs the prison, to be stripped of its contract. "90% of the drugs were brought in by staff," he claimed in a recent interview. "Some would do one drug run in the morning, one in the afternoon, and they could make five grand in a day." Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news

Two of the nine recent deaths are thought to be from natural causes, according to Mr Argar, who has described Parc as a "safe" and "well-run" prison. G4S insists it has "a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs" and uses "a range of tactics to tackle the ingress of drugs and reduce demand". Its spokeswoman added: "This includes robust security measures for staff, visitors and prisoners as well as substance misuse support to those in our