Prison To Set Up Family Room For Inmates To Spend Time With Their Young Children
Inmates at the Corradino Correctional Facility who are parents to young children will soon be able to spend quality time with them through the opening of a family room outside the prison grounds.
The Home Affairs Ministry said the initiative was the result of an agreement between the Correctional Services Agency and the NGO Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl, which works with inmates to facilitate their reintroduction to society.
The new family room will allow prisoners that are parents to minors to be able to spend “quality time” with them while serving a sentence, the ministry said.
It added that the initiative was one of a series of projects being undertaken together with Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl with the aim of helping prisoners and their families deal with the challenges brought about by incarceration.
Work on the new family room is set to start in the coming days, the ministry said.
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri noted that one out of every three inmates in Malta had relatives who were in prison.
He said society had a duty to ensure that the prison system facilitated the reintegration of prisoners back into society, as well as to protect their families from social marginalisation.
The announcement comes on the back of weeks of criticism aimed at the prison’s administration and Camilleri himself.
Earlier this month director Alex Dalli suspended himself after another inmate took his life. The suicide was the 14th prison death since Dalli was appointed director.
Dalli has been accused of overseeing a reign of terror within the prison walls with countless claims of inhumane behaviour having been made by prisoners and their relatives.
Camilleri has faced calls for his resignation over his refusal to sack Dalli.
An inquiry into the works of the prison is underway, with Camilleri saying earlier this week that he expected to have its findings within a matter of weeks.
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