Prisoners who get an education while serving time, by attending courses organised by the prison's Education Unit, still face "enormous stigma" when they leave jail and enter the working world, unit coordinator Desmond Zammit Marmara said.

"The education they gain while in prison does help them find a job when they leave. But it's sad to see how the stigma against inmates is so great that it works against the efforts they would have put in while here," Mr Zammit Marmara said in an interview with The Times on the 10th anniversary of the unit.

Sitting at his desk at the unit's administration office, he outlined how the unit operates even as several inmates knocked at the door and politely asked him to be registered for class, addressing him as "sir".

The Educational Unit at the Corradino Correctional Facility (CCF) was set up 10 years ago yesterday with the aim of offering inmates something worthwhile to do in jail and to take away with them when they leave. The idea is that, after serving time, it would be easier for them to find a job and integrate into life outside prison.

But for this aim to be fulfilled, said Mr Zammit Marmara, the stigma that most employers have against ex-convicts has to be tackled. He explained that there were many cases of former inmates finding a job, only to be fired the moment their employer found out about their previous conviction and notwithstanding their good performance at work.

Mr Zammit Marmara, who has been teaching at the unit ever since it was opened, said the educational programme is tailored to suit the requests of inmates, who attend it on a voluntary basis.

The unit has separate sections for men and women as well as for certain categories of inmates such as those in the vulnerable people's section and juveniles. Only inmates deemed of potential high risk are not allowed to attend classes.

This year about 55 men and 10 women attended courses which included art, computers, philosophy, pottery, masonry and various languages amongst others. A look at the unit's records showed that over the past 10 years 23 inmates received a secondary education certificate, 11 received an advanced level certificate, while one graduated from university. Five earned an electrician's licence and one a European Computer Driving Licence.

Apart for these, hundreds of inmates acquired literacy skills in Maltese or English.

Mr Zammit Marmara said that although he has seen improvements over the years, he is not satisfied with the number of inmates who attend classes.

He believes that one way of boosting the numbers would be to provide more incentives. Over the past 10 years he has seen many start courses but stop soon after, either because they lost interest or were ridiculed by their peers.

Then there were those rare few who attended several courses religiously. "Those are a phenomenon."

He also believes that better coordination would ensure that classes do not clash with other activities organised for the inmates. More books and equipment also need to be made available to those inmates who aspire to a brighter future once they serve time.