Updated: - Two children who were held in prison awaiting bail last week were visited daily by officials from Appogg and YMCA as well as the psychologist of the correctional facility, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs said this evening.

The Labour Party earlier today called for urgent action to avoid situations such as this, where a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were held in prison pending bail. (They were granted bail yesterday.)

The boy was placed in the YOURS section for young people, but since similar facilities do not exist for girls, she was kept with the adult women.

PL spokesman Justyne Caruana said this was not a situation which brought about rehabilitation.

She insisted that such young people needed to be given the opportunity to be contributors to society in the future, and not a problem for society.

The Sunday Times reported last Sunday that the youngsters had been held over an alleged theft of €400 from their uncle. Their detention angered NGOs and professionals who claimed that the children’s rights were being trampled on.

Both the boy and the girl are under care orders.

The girl was taken into care following reports about her family background while the boy had asked for help himself, after escaping a broken home. The care orders mean the youngsters become the legal responsibility of the State. However, they had been transferred to the care of YMCA, an NGO that provides residential services for children in these situations.

YMCA chairman Jean Paul Mifsud said it was unacceptable for children of this age to be sent to prison, especially over such a case, and considering the background to it.

“We were told by the legal aid lawyer there should have been a hearing on Wednesday but nothing came of that... they have spent a week in prison in the meantime. We have worked all through the week, we kept close contact with the kids and saw to their needs, but that is not enough. The kids need specialised help, on time and not imprisonment,” he said.

“I feel their rights are being breached, and I say this responsibly,” Mr Mifsud said, insisting the system was failing the children most in need.

“Had these been my children or your children we would have been involved, we would have got them the best lawyers and they would have been granted bail... why should it be any different with these children whose only fault is that they have been dealt a raw deal in life?”

Maltese Association of Social Workers chair Anthea Agius echoed this feeling, arguing that the rights of these youngsters were being trampled upon. “Prison is no place for young people. Research shows it will only make things worse not better,” she said.

The spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry said the ministry had embryonic plans to set up a YOURS section for young female offenders, but he pointed out that had it existed at present, it would have been empty other than for this girl. He said that she had therefore been sent to a small women's wing for first offenders, where she was regularly monitored, sometimes twice a day.

He also pointed out that since these two teenagers were still awaiting tria and had not been convicted, they could not start rehabilitation.