Prison inmates and their families are constantly being robbed blind, with items from the tuck shop costing much more than anywhere else and free or special offers completely disregarded. Even medicines were overpriced. And where is the money going?
Speaking on the private member’s motion on the judiciary sector, Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said this was serious, and it had nothing to do with corrective behaviour. How were prisoners’ accounts kept? Proven mistakes were never corrected.
The government’s repeated short-sightedness hurt people in the thick of their individual problems. Few could understand that many inmates at the prisons had done wrong just once in life and were paying a steep price for it.
Prisoners were supposed to be rehabilitated, not further angered towards society. Aims were not being reached because the facility was hardly being really corrective. Most inmates dearly wanted to reintegrate into society as worthy members, but the lack of education and therapy meant failure in the eyes of these individuals.
It was important to have specially-trained staff in the handling of prisoners, with attitudes and behaviours that sought to be disciplined but considerate.
The old part of the prisons was crying out for refurbishment. The new part had cost some €7 million but inmates did not even have tables to eat on. Inmates housed in dormitories had no storage space for their belongings. Sanitary facilities left a lot to be desired, as did the standard of the kitchens.
Ms Coleiro Preca said educational facilities offered nothing to incentivise inmates. Discrimination in community work was the order of the day. Why was such work not being used for corrective purposes? What training were young inmates being given?
Studies had proved that the more contact an inmate had with his or her family, the more accelerated would be the reform. But no criteria existed even in this important sector.
Ms Coleiro Preca asked what normally happened when an inmate completed sentence. Why was the CCF not even applying for social assistance for such inmates who did not yet have a job? Inmates who had always paid their NI contributions were not getting their part of their pensions, so the wives who were only getting part of the pension had to go out of pocket to help them while in prison. Even the benchmark attached to social benefits needed to be updated.
Moving on to other parts of the motion, she called attention to the fine-tuning needed between the investigative part of police work and the protective part. Many members of the corps were not even trained in how to tackle domestic violence.
Labour spokesman on Home Affairs Michael Falzon said the police corps had to be motivated. The government had failed to take action on establishing a union for police, armed forces and civil protection personnel.
The government had requested a re-opening of a court case which had been won by the Civil Protection Members Association. This showed that the government’s intention of giving union status to these workers was not genuine.
The government had confirmed through a parliamentary reply by the Prime Minister that the police did not have any right to claim any overtime from 1993 to date. The government had deceived these people when it promised them such payments.
Dr Falzon repeated comments he had passed during the debate on the motion censuring former Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, including the non-introduction of parole, lack of classification of prisoners, overcrowding and miserable conditions in certain parts of the prisons. Dr Falzon said that former President Eddie Fenech Adami had raised doubts on the validity of the trial-by-jury system because he did not agree with the decision in a well-known court case. The Debono motion now requested fine tuning of the system.
The debate continues.
Yesterday, Environment Minister Mario de Marco and opposition spokesman on the environment Leo Brincat discussed the outcome of the Earth Summit Rio+20, the UN conference on sustainable development.
At the beginning of the session, Labour MP Carmelo Abela called on Mr Speaker to recommend that Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, in the name of scrutiny of public finances, answer two parliamentary questions regarding government funds for Air Malta and payment by the government to consultants to the airline task force. Dr Frendo took note of the suggestion.