A “national strategy” to address the problem of children being sent to jail which would provide them with an alternative to imprisonment is urgently needed, according to the Education Minister.

In comments made during yesterday’s edition of Times Talk, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that at least 31 children, aged between 13 and 16 had been handed prison sentences between 2000 and 2010.

“The majority are sent to a specialised unit but with these children there are also those who are aged between 16 and 21, and that’s not right,” the Minister said.

The issue with children being sent to prison was discussed on Times Talk after a 16-year-old was last week sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, having been arrested for slightly injuring his younger brother.

The boy, who cannot be named by court order, for years faced a host of problems and run-ins with the law. Testifying in court, his probation officer said that the boy would be doing well until he returned home.

He was placed under care order as a young child but had to return to his mother aged 10 since, as a result of his difficult behaviour, he had nowhere to live.

He was then placed on probation at the age of 12, going on to spend some time at the Young People’s Unit at Mount Carmel Hospital before a placement was sourced for him.

A secure college where troubled boys and girls could be under constant supervision is the way forward

According to the Minister, cases like this make it very clear that a solution is needed urgently. In some cases, children end up in institutions that are not adequate to help resolve their problems.

“In other cases, they are sent back home, back to the place which ultimately led to the problems to begin with,” he said. While there were a number of families ready and willing to take in children in need, Mr Bartolo said this was not always possible, since some children required professional help.

Setting up a secure college where troubled boys and girls could be under constant supervision was the way forward, the minister added, as this would offer the children a safe home environment while also offering professional guidance. A specialised plan for every child would need to be developed, he said.

“We cannot say we will do something and it would be adequate for all adolescents. That doesn’t make any sense since every young person has their own story.”

Calls for such a system have also enjoyed the support of the Opposition. Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that a society that was still handing out prison sentences to 16-year-olds was one which had failed. “I think that the government, with the Opposition’s full cooperation, has to develop structures which prevent children from ending up in prison.

“We have to keep on emphasising the importance of rehabilitation, especially in cases where youths are involved.

“It’s in everyone’s interest, the youths, their families and the rest of society,” Dr Fenech Adami said during the programme.

Similar calls were also made by the Malta Association of Social Workers (MASW), which said adequate structures and services for troubled children needed to be set up through cooperation across the education and social welfare sectors and the health and justice systems.

The MASW also encourages alternative learning programmes, early intervention programmes commencing at primary education level, and further strengthening of programmes already in place.