As prison inmates walk out of the Corradino Correctional Facility, after serving time, many face a harsh world that labels them as nothing more than “ex-prisoners”.

This was the main point that emerged during the conference The Ex-Prisoner: Labelled for Ever? that was held at St James Cavalier in Valletta and during which the organiser, Mid-Dlam Ghal Dawl, gave a taster of the outcome of research it will publish later this year.

This research, based on a questionnaire administered to 211 inmates, showed that three out of four inmates fear the future and the challenges outside jail.

Social Policy Minister John Dalli said he believed that more emphasis ought to be placed on the education and formation of inmates while they were in jail as this would prepare them for life in society. He also said that society was not prepared to takein ex-inmates and this needed to be addressed.

During the well-attended conference a wide spectrum of guest speakers touched on the various facets that impacted the future of inmates -ranging from the experiences of inmates themselves, to the views of people who work with them.Among these speakers there were Prison Director Sandro Gatt, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, MDD coordinator Matthew Agius and employment advisor at the ETC Antoinette Camilleri.