Only 33% of CCF inmates are first-time offenders

Only 33% of the sentenced inmates at the Corradino prisons are first-time offenders, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said today.

Of the total 440 sentenced inmates, 295 are not first-time offenders which meant that 67% of the CCF residents were relapsers.

The minister was speaking during a training course overlooking In-Prison Education for Rehabilitation and Resettlement. The weeklong course is being organised by the European Prison Education Association and the Programme for Education in Prisons within the University of Malta's Education Faculty.

The course has brought together around 40 experts in the field of education and rehabilitation in prisons.

Mallia insisted that while prisoners should pay for their wrongdoings, it must not preclude their right for education, rehabilitation and resettlement once they have served their prison sentence.

He also announced the government's intention on appointing a director for educational services in prison to strengthen the current educational system at Corradino Correctional Facility.

"In reality this is not a choice but a must if we are to break the vicious circle of criminality and reduce recidivism. If we manage to rehabilitate and resettle ex-prisoners, the temptations for them to relapse in the paths of criminality will without any doubt substantially decrease," Mallia said.

"Just as society needs the correctional process to protect itself against individuals whom it deems dangerous, prisoners need rehabilitation in order to reclaim their rightful roles in society. For so long as the correctional process fails to correct, it can neither alter its product, nor improve the social environment."

He said that the government planned on initiating a process, involving all stakeholders, for a proper study in recidivism with the aim of reducing these levels. So far, no proper recidivism statistics have been kept.

"As a government we believe in the instrument of parole to achieve proper resettlement of inmates. It was our electoral pledge before being elected to government six months ago," he said, adding that the ministry was currently reviewing a security report prepared by the Prisons Reform Board.

Mallia insisted that proper rehabilitation of inmates would only be successful once the prisons are free of drugs: "It is my pledge to eradicate drugs from prison once and for all."