The Labour Party agreed that prisoners should have their jail term shortened for good behaviour but felt that the remission system should not be granted automatically, party leader Joseph Muscat said.

“Every prisoner has the right to reform himself and the prison system should give them this chance,” Dr Muscat said. However, shortening the time one had to serve in jail, known as remission, should not apply to prisoners who did not follow the rules.

Speaking at a party activity in Gżira on Thursday, Dr Muscat said he did not want to live in a society ruled by the law of the jungle. “We can’t send out a message that everything goes. We have to live in a society where everyone observes the law but, at the same time, people who get involved in crime have to be given a chance to rehabilitate themselves,” he said.

He was referring to the case of convicted murderer Charles Muscat, known as Il-Pips, who benefited from remission for good behaviour even though he tested positive for drugs while in prison and has a pending case in which he is accused of conspiracy to traffic four kilos of cocaine and a kilo of cannabis.

Mr Muscat has insisted he had earned his remission in the final five years of the 17-year prison term he served.

A heroin addiction he picked up in prison had cost him huge chunks of remission each time he tested positive, Mr Muscat said in an interview with The Sunday Times, but he won it back when he kicked the habit and spent five years totally clean.

Mr Muscat also spoke on the availability of drugs in prison, saying, among other things, that prisoners were practically forced to take drugs given the amount of heroin available there.

Dr Muscat commented on this too and, specifically, to the reaction of prison director Abraham Zammit who rejected the notion that the place was teeming with drugs, even though he admitted the place was not drug-free.

Dr Muscat pointed out that this should not be the case. “We want to see something Caritas has long been calling for: a drug court for those who fall victim to drug addiction to be given a chance to reform and move ahead in society.”

Speaking about illegal immigration, Dr Muscat said the PL fully supported the migrants but added that violence was always unacceptable. Solidarity with migrants did not mean first saving them from the sea and then dumping them in unsuitable places, he said.