Prisoners labelled for ever?

As prison inmates walk out of the Corradino Correctional Facility, after serving time, many face a harsh world that labels them as nothing more than “ex-prisoners”.

This was the main point that emerged during the conference The Ex-Prisoner: Labelled for Ever? that was held at St James Cavalier in Valletta and during which the organiser, Mid-Dlam Ghal Dawl, gave a taster of the outcome of research it will publish later this year.

This research, based on a questionnaire administered to 211 inmates, showed that three out of four inmates fear the future and the challenges outside jail.

Social Policy Minister John Dalli said he believed that more emphasis ought to be placed on the education and formation of inmates while they were in jail as this would prepare them for life in society. He also said that society was not prepared to takein ex-inmates and this needed to be addressed.

During the well-attended conference a wide spectrum of guest speakers touched on the various facets that impacted the future of inmates -ranging from the experiences of inmates themselves, to the views of people who work with them.Among these speakers there were Prison Director Sandro Gatt, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, MDD coordinator Matthew Agius and employment advisor at the ETC Antoinette Camilleri.

Comments

JOHN SCERRI (on 10/4/08)

The court decison to confine a person to jail must be well calculated due to it's effect on the person after having served a jail sentence.
All persons confined to prison are found guilt of some crime or other .
Crimes vary from petty theft or drug related crimes to premediated murder.
The more serious the crime the larger will be the label .
The victims of such crimes on the other hand are, YES , always labelled forever as having suffered from another persons selfishness or greed.
Together with the victims there are the victim's families and children.
It is suggested that before leaveing jail a 'PRISON LEAVING CERTIFICATE' is created , reviewed and approved by the Prison
board outlining the prisoners case ,why he was confined to a jail sentence, one's behavour and self discipline during his or her stay in prison .
This will serve as an asset when the person is submitting his/her CV for a job application.
The certificate will accompany the police conduct certificate.
In this way the employer will have a more clear picture of who is applying for the job.