A total of 93 per cent of businesses do not feel comfortable employing former prison inmates, new research has found.
Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said the study conducted by the University of Malta criminology department found that more than two thirds of inmates who left the correctional facility back in 2010, ended up back in prison.
This decreased to 42 per cent last year. The study highlighted lack of employability as a major factor.
In fact in 2010, a total of 78.5 per cent of those who left prison were unemployed and had trouble finding work.
Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg said Malta would be making use of funds from the European Social Fund to help in the social inclusion of former prisoners.