Female prisoners want to do voluntary work

Female prisoners residing at the Corradino Correctional Facility have urged two Cabinet members to allow them the chance to serve part of their sentence by doing community work.

Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia and Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli today visited female prisoners who are serving their term or awaiting trial. Marking International Women’s Day, Dalli donated a number of books in English and Maltese.

“I know I have to make amends for what I did, but why shouldn’t I be given the chance to do voluntary work? I want to help others… that way I know I’m doing something good for society,” one woman told the ministers.

A mother of five, the woman said she left a three-month-old child behind when she was sentenced for drug trafficking – a sentence that was handed after completing a drug rehabilitation programme.

Helena Dalli admitted that even a mayor, unnamed, has complained that no female prisoners, in contrast to male prisoners, are sent to do community work.

Another prisoner, a drug addict in jail for theft, said that spending her days in prison would be of little benefit to her in the end.

“I am a drug addict. What I need are rehabilitation courses and education on drugs… Because after I serve my sentence it will be those same people that I will meet.”

A small number of prisoners who did not shy away from the cameras welcomed a number of changes introduced recently – including the change in food provided.

The food improved to the point that the prisoners “no longer request food from home”.

Time being their greatest enemy, CCF residents are given the opportunities to follow up courses at MCAST. Minister Mallia said that a textiles company had even accepted that the inmates do some of its sewing works.

“You can lose your freedom but you do not lose your dignity,” Mallia said, reiterating that CCF should be a place for rehabilitation. 

“Whether you have been sentenced or are awaiting trial, being here does not mean it’s the end of it all. In life we all make mistakes and justice has to take its course.”

The small crowd of female prisoners soon gathered around the ministers to talk to them. Others approached members of the media, eager to share their thoughts and ideas.

But the two that caught my eye were a 20-year-old Polish girl and a 24-year-old woman from the Dominican Republic. Shying away from the cameras and the more outspoken women, the two huddled into a corner, whispering to each other with their hands covering their mouths.

I soon learnt that the younger girl was arrested two years ago for drug trafficking and is now awaiting trial. She had travelled to Malta with her now ex-boyfriend – also in prison – who was caught trafficking heroin.

Back in her homeland, she was a student who fell in with the wrong crowd. “They were a bad influence… he was a bad influence,” she told me. Admitting she had disappointed her parents and her brother, the young woman said they still supported her and that contact was regular. Last year she passed her first O-Level exam in Malta – Physics – and this year she will be sitting for English and Mathematics.

As our brief encounter came to an end, a fellow prison inmate – a woman of around 50 years – passed by shouting, “Fight for your right, girl!”