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“You all understand how important it is to emerge from what you passed through as stronger men, so that your negative experiences don’t repeat themselves in the future and so that you can contribute to society,” Abela said.

“Society is also obliged to welcome you back, including in terms of work, which is important for reintegration.”

Abela promised to launch a discussion in the coming days into whether certain prisoners should be allowed to expunge their criminal records after serving their sentences. This is a crucial issue for many prisoners, as number of jobs and transactions, such as obtaining a driving license for light passenger vehicles, require a clean police conduct.

Malta introduced the concept of expungement when it passed a cannabis reform law in 2021, allowing people to clear their criminal records if the crime they had been convicted of had since been decriminalised.

Labour’s electoral programme pledges a discussion on widening this concept to allow people convicted of simple drug possession to apply for expungement.

“We believe that everyone should be given a chance to rebuild their lives, because it isn’t fair for people to be labelled forever,” the manifesto reads.

“As it stands, such labelling occurs even years after the person would have reformed themselves. We will open discussions with entities who lead drug rehabilitation programmes about the possibility of allowing people convicted of simple drug possession to revise their police conduct after a number of years.”

Should reformed prisoners be allowed to expunge their police conducts?