Plans for the €3.2 million facility are intended to move offenders out of the youth prison at Corradino, pictured. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

A rehabilitative prison for young offenders is likely to be located on the outskirts of Dingli and cost €3.2 million to build, The Sunday Times of Malta can confirm.

Plans for the correctional facility were passed on to the planning authority this past week.

If approved, the plans will lead to the building of a rehabilitation centre with enough room for up to 160 inmates.

Approximately €1 million of the necessary expense is expected to come from a Norwegian fund, a spokesman for the Home Affairs ministry confirmed, with the Government footing the remaining €2.2 million bill.

Young offenders are currently housed within the Young Offenders Unit Rehabilitation Services – or YOURS – section of the main Corradino prison compound, where specialised facilities or provisions for juvenile rehabilitation are few and far between.

We want to create a correctional system that incentivises inmates to rehabilitate themselves

The Government would like to bring offenders under the age of 21 together under one roof, away from more hardened criminals.

First-time offenders aged up to 30 will also be considered likely candidates for the Dingli facility, a ministry spokesman explained.

“There’s nowhere near 160 young offenders in prison at the moment. But aside from population projections, we also want to better group inmates according to their different rehabilitative needs,” they said.

Promise of a specialised correctional facility for minors was included as part of the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto, following repeated calls by prison experts, social workers and psychologists for youths to be separated from the main prison’s administration.

Moving young inmates out of the existing prison will free up valuable space in a prison that is choked beyond bursting point.

Inmates have previously complained to Times of Malta about overcrowding issues, with mattresses on cell floors and low-risk inmates being housed in high-security wings due to a lack of available space.

Overcrowding issues are coupled with concerns about understaffing – concerns amplified by an official investigation which found that at least seven prison guards regularly failed to show up for work.

Approximately 30 prison warders are soon expected to graduate from training and join the existing 130-odd guards who man the prison, helping to ease staffing problems.

Ministry officials have kept busy with prison reform since the March general election, with Minister Manuel Mallia calling for a complete overhaul of the system.

Changes on the cards include an investigation into prison tuck shop irregularities brought to light by Times of Malta probing and plans to replace former CCF director Abraham Zammit with two directors, with one tasked with overseeing inmate rehabilitation.

“We want to create a correctional system that incentivises inmates to rehabilitate themselves,” the ministry spokesman said, “not one in which good behaviour and hard work go unrecognised and unrewarded.”