Children in the dock

This year, four children aged between 12 and 15 have been sent to prison or to a mental health institution after being convicted by the courts. In Malta, having no specialised institution means that convicted minors are held either at the Corradino Correctional Facility or Mount Carmel Hospital.

M magazine speaks to Children's Commissioner Carmen Zammit, to Fr Mark Montebello from Mid-Dlam Għad-Dawl, and to two forensic psychologists on the effects that imprisonment has on minors.

In the Mystery section, Christian Peregin gets to grips with the mysterious Ħal Saflieni skulls. Exhibited at the National Museum of Archaeology until 1985 and since then hidden away in storage, these strange, deformed skulls are believed to have belonged to a lost race of or to serpent-like temple builders.

Meanwhile, in the Memories section, Veronica Stivala walks down Strait Street and Testaferrata Street. Once merry and mean, Strait Street now begs for a living while, in Testaferrata Street, the red lights are being switched off.

On a lighter note, Giselle Scicluna wonders why men and housework don't flock together while Jo Caruana interviews Ian and Tonio Darmanin, of Paqpaq fame, to see if the brothers drive on the same lane.

M sits down with columnist Andrew Borg Cardona and flips through his photo album while Johann de Bono, a Maltese-born physician now leading a prostate cancer drugs trial at the Institute of Cancer Research in England, discusses his hope of turning prostate cancer from a death sentence into a chronic disease.

M magazine will be out tomorrow with The Times. It is published by Allied Newspapers Ltd and produced by MediaMaker Ltd. Its editor is Stanley Borg.