Mallia announces three-month amnesty for convicts

Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia announced a 100-day amnesty for prisoners during an event held at Corradino Correction Facility earlier this evening.

The partial amnesty, not expected to be awarded to convicts sentenced on charges of child abuse or paedophilia, will be conditional and could be suspended, according to a source speaking to this newspaper earlier today.

Mallia visited the Corradino Correction Facility to deliver a speech during an award-giving ceremony in recognition to convicts involved in making a large Christmas log submitted for the Guinness World Record.

During the event, Mallia stopped short of making any comments to the press, saying that he will make an official statement in parliament tomorrow.

Asked about whether there was any connection between the amnesty and the administrative shortcomings within Corradino Correctional Facility that Mallia had made public thanks to a surprise visit last April, the home affairs minister said that the reason for the amensty is purely a historical one.

"Historically, amnesties are given in the wake of important national events. In this case, the event in question would be the national election," Mallia said.

Prisoners have not been granted an amnesty since 2000, even though regular appeals were made during the second visit of Pope John Paul II in 2001 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

Labour had already granted an amnesty to 80 prisoners in 1996.