Prisoners released from jail and immigrants set free from detention often become victims of irrationally bureaucratic procedures that make it difficult for them to access social benefits or find a job.
An inmate fresh out of prison had to wait a couple of weeks before being eligible for unemployment benefits and in the meantime he had no means of income for food and accommodation, explained Fr Hilary Tagliaferro.
Similarly, after spending 18 months in detention, immigrants were asked to fork out €58 for an employment licence before they could work and earn money legally.
“This is pure bureaucracy.... We are not speaking of injustice. This is a matter of inconvenience and hardship to already vulnerable people,” he said.
Fr Hilary, the founder of the Millennium Chapel in Paceville, feels it is high time something is done to address the situation and has come up with a few suggestions.
After all, he pointed out, on launching the pre-Budget document last week, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said emphasis should be placed on the social aspect so that, as the economy returned to growth, no one would fall behind.
Fr Hilary said that former inmates and immigrants often turned up at the Millennium Chapel for support as they got caught in a bureaucratic corner.
Some inmates lost contact with their family and friends while serving time. So when they were released they had nowhere to go and no money or little of it in their pockets.
To be eligible for social benefits they had to register as unemployed for about three weeks. In the meantime, they were essentially homeless and penniless and some ended up sleeping in parks or on a beach.
“If this trend continues we will soon have people begging in the streets,” he said.
Fr Hilary suggested that a solution be found by introducing a system whereby inmates could start registering while still at the Corradino Correctional Facility so they would have some form of income once they stepped out of prison.
When it came to immigrants released from detention, those who had been granted refugee status or subsidiary protection had the right to apply for a work permit.
Fr Hilary wrote to the Employment and Training Corporation proposing the introduction of a system allowing them to pay the €58 fee once they started working.
However, in an e-mail, the ETC informed him it was “not in a position to waive the payment of such licences... without it infringing applicable laws and regulations”.
This lack of cooperation has irritated Fr Hilary: “How can you expect someone to pay €58 as soon as they come out of the detention centre? The only way this is possible is through charity, by them working illegally or by stealing... as these people have done. I’ve told them it’s no sin to steal if you need to eat. I’m not saying they should go rob a bank.”
Once immigrants leave detention they usually move into an open centre where they are given an allowance that ranges between €80 and €130 a month depending on their status.
This system has been criticised by the Jesuit Refugee Service in Malta for not encouraging immigrants to be self-sufficient.
If immigrants leave open centres, run by the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers, for more than three weeks their monetary allowance is stopped. Given the unstable nature of their employment, many chose not to take the risk.