[attach id=258493 size="medium"]Inmates clapping Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia during his visit to the prison on Tuesday. Photo: Jason Borg[/attach]
Prisoners will benefit from a reduction of 100 days in their jail term on the back of an amnesty to commemorate Labour’s electoral victory.
Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia told Parliament last night 143 inmates would be released early from prison by the end of the year as a result of the amnesty.
Of these, 54 will leave Corradino Correctional Facility today.
Dr Mallia said the amnesty would not apply to rapists, prisoners guilty of abusing minors and those involved in the prostitution, kidnap and abandonment of minors.
Inmates doing time for human trafficking will also be excluded.
He denied the amnesty was intended to reduce overcrowding at the prison, which housed 614 inmates by the end of last month.
Of these, 54 will leave Corradino Correctional Facility today
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi criticised the amnesty, saying Nationalist Party electoral victories in 1998, 2003 and 2008 were not marked in this way.
Dr Azzopardi also questioned – he called it a burning question – why crimes related to drug trafficking, murder, the forcing of adults into prostitution, pornography and violence against the elderly were not excluded.
“This amnesty is sending the wrong message,” he insisted, listing various cases where the courts gave jail terms for serious drug trafficking cases.
“Was this also a pre-electoral commitment with the relatives of inmates?”
This jibe was greeted by sighs of exasperation from the Government benches as Dr Azzopardi asked whether it was “fit and proper” for the minister to announce the amnesty during a prison visit where he was “welcomed with open arms” by inmates.
Dr Mallia said it was “untrue” the Labour Party had a pre-electoral commitment with inmates and defended his visit to the Corradino Correctional Facility on Monday.
“Why shouldn’t these people rejoice as well? Why shouldn’t we help in their rehabilitation?” Dr Mallia asked with reference to the ceremony in which inmates were awarded for baking a world record-breaking Christmas log.
The minister said the correctional facility was in a disastrous state when he took over after the election and noted that, six years ago, Dr Azzopardi had asked for an amnesty for all prisoners on the appointment of a new Archbishop.
The Opposition spokesman had already raised the issue saying the appointment of an Archbishop happened once in a blue moon and could not be compared with an electoral victory.
Government Whip Carmelo Abela took the cue and said a Labour victory also happened once in a blue moon, eliciting a smile on the faces of all MPs present.
Dr Mallia said the amnesty would apply to inmates irrespective of whether they were serving a prison term or awaiting trial. It would also apply to individuals sentenced to prison but who were still waiting for the outcome of an appeal.
He said prisoners serving more than one term would only benefit from a 100-day reduction.
He said the amnesty was intended as a gesture of goodwill to help in the rehabilitation of prisoners and remarked that he could not understand the lack of “Christian compassion” from the Opposition benches.
This is the first amnesty granted by President George Abela. It is the President who grants an amnesty on recommendation of the Cabinet.
The last amnesty was given in December 1999 by the late President Guido de Marco to mark the start of the millennium. Prisoners had one month removed for each year in jail from their sentence.
Amnesties to mark a change in Government were given in 1987 and 1996.
Since 1999, prisoners have made regular appeals for amnesties, which were never upheld. Such occasions included the second visit to Malta by Pope John Paul II in 2001, EU accession in 2004, the 2007 canonisation of Saint Ġorġ Preca and Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in 2010.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com