The recent landmark court judgment decreeing that sentences of life imprisonment which preclude the possibility of review violate human rights has reopened the debate about the draconian punishment of sentencing a person to a correctional facility for life.
While the vast majority of professionals involved in the rehabilitation of inmates have welcomed the recent court decision, general public opinion still seems to reflect the view that a life sentence should mean exactly that: shutting the offender behind bars for the rest of his life without the possibility of ever exiting the walls of the correctional facility.
I could, of course, write a whole article about the principles of restorative justice, what we mean by the term "correctional facility" instead of "prison", the aims of the rehabilitation of inmates, etc.
However, I think that it would be much more worthwhile to share with readers the results of my personal experiences in relation to persons sentenced to life imprisonment as this will serve to show how correct was the recent court judgment dealing with such cases.
I started serving as a full-time educator at the Corradino Correctional Facility in the summer of 1997. I entered the facility questioning the perceptions entertained by the majority of the public, that here one met people who were really bad and who were getting the punishment they richly deserved.
The general public perception was that the worst of the lot were those who were serving life sentences as they had committed unspeakable acts for which they did not deserve to be given the chance to mix with society ever again.
I had read several books questioning such assumptions and now I had the opportunity to find out for myself.
As a coordinator of the educational programme, part of my job was to interview inmates to try and assess their educational needs. This brought me into contact with people serving life sentences. The first thing that struck me was the fact that they were ordinary people just like you and me.
Such persons are sometimes presented by the media as being beyond the pale of normal society, as human aberrations. The reality is that they are normal human beings with many serious weaknesses which led them astray and because of which they finished up at the Corradino Correctional Facility.
Let me make one point clear. In no manner do I seek to justify or excuse the crimes committed by people serving a life sentence or any other type of sentence. I also do not accept the argument that some persons acted as they did because of the very difficult circumstances of their personal lives.
While I recognise the fact that difficult circumstances might be a mitigating factor, still these in themselves do not justify breaking the law, especially in a very serious way.
However, one should try to understand what led a person to commit a serious crime as this also helps one to understand that a person can be helped to change from being a social liability to becoming a social asset.
Given the right support, a good number of inmates can change their life in a positive manner. To do so, however, they need encouragement and not short-sighted, total condemnation.
We have to remember one very important point: an offender remains a human being notwithstanding the serious offence committed.
That is why a life sentence without the possibility of review does not make sense. What we are saying here is that a person has committed a very serious offence and will never change. This is something that is simply not true because people change, both for better and for worse.
Given the right support and enough motivation, a person can totally change his life. At the Corradino Correctional Facility, I have seen people change from seemingly worthless weights on society to productive, well-behaved citizens. Some of them still stop me in the streets and proudly explain to me all the details about their new job and how their children are getting on.
It is a new start for them and they are proud of how they have managed to overcome their past weaknesses and find new positive strengths within themselves.
So when a person faces the possibility of a life behind bars for the rest of his life, we are effectively telling that person: "You are finished because of what you did and whatever you do from now on makes no difference." This is senseless.
Furthermore, one should also remember that the performance of persons serving a life sentence is continuously being reviewed by the professionals working at the Corradino Correctional Facility. If after serving a long sentence, an inmate were to be given the chance to rejoin society outside the walls of the facility, this would only be after a rigorous and exhaustive examination of his particular case.
It is obvious that nobody who is still a threat to society will be given the chance to leave the facility.
To conclude, I remember that in the summer of 2009, when my service at the Corradino Correctional Facility ended, it was by now obvious to me that a life sentence without the possibility of review is both unfair and cruel.
My enduring recollection is that of an inmate who had killed more than one person and the beautiful ornaments he created out of ordinary materials. The moral of his case is that there is good in every person and that nobody is a lost cause, for even the most erring person can eventually be channelled in the right direction. However, you have to give him the chance first.
Desmond Zammit Marmarà is a Balzan Labour councillor.