Prison rights' advocate George Busuttil said the main problem at the moment is the lack of information “which is quite dangerous and unfair on prisoners who are just referring to rumours rather than solid fact.”
Bianca Caruana
A week since parole was formally introduced to Malta's judicial system with the Restorative Justice Act, prison social workers are still waiting for the necessary infrastructural changes without which the new system cannot begin to function as planned.
After years of lobbying for a parole law to be introduced in Malta, George Busuttil - secretary-general of prisoners' rights NGO Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl - said that the country's prison system was not yet prepared for the Restorative Justice Act, which came into effect at the end of last month.
"First of all, the bill has at last seen the light of day. It is finally active, but we're now waiting for the prison infrastructure proposed in the law to become a reality. After reading the bill, there are still a couple of questions which need answering because some things remain ambiguous," Busuttil told this newspaper.
Launching the reform last month, Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said the law was intended to give inmates the opportunity to reform depending on conditions and targets proposed.
According to the terms of the new law, a Offender Assessment Board should have been set up to examine inmate case files in order to determine whether the prison sentence should be reduced by up to a third according to good behaviour.
Programmes would then be individually created for prisoners to provide them with skills beneficial to life outside prison walls.
The new Parole Board and the Remission board would assess the programmes created and decide whether prisoners' applications for parole or remission should be approved or not.
While all this looks good on paper, Busuttil said that prisoners, prison workers and social workers alike have not yet been informed of the timeframe when prisoners will become eligible for parole, since none of the boards proposed in the law have been set up.
"The situation is very sensitive and we need to have information campaigns, not just within the prison but also within the general public. At the moment, many believe this is just another amnesty measure by letting prisoners out early to make room in the prison.
"Nobody knows what is happening. I mean, I have to go into the prisons and I'm bombarded with questions which I really can't answer," Busuttil said.
Busuttil said that Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl had actually put forward a number of questions to the prison authorities but were still waiting for an answer.
"One question we have is about the fine given to prisoners upon being sentenced. It is not clear how it is going to be paid, should a prisoner be eligible for parole. Would the person have to pay the fine prior to being released on parole? It is unclear how it is going to work out," Busuttil said.
Another question posed by the foundation referred to the structural preparedness of the system for the introduction of the law.
"We have printed the law and read through it, but we still have questions, like: how prepared is the system to start using the law? Technically, many became eligible to parole immediately upon the introduction of the law; or have already served the required prison term to be introduced to the care plan programme proposed in the same law," Busuttil said.
"However, the main problem at the moment is the lack of information which is quite dangerous and unfair on prisoners who are just referring to rumours rather than solid fact," Busuttil said.
Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl was the first foundation to start lobbying for the parole system in Malta, and has been working on it through discussions with MPs of both sides of the House.
"A private members bill was put forward prior to elections in 2008. The Prime Minister, once elected, launched a white paper for the law. Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl put forward suggestions to be included in the bill, but not all were accepted," Busuttil said.
Busuttil said that one of the proposals was that parole should be available to all prisoners including those with life sentences, as well as foreigners.
These proposals were however not accepted with foreigners and those serving life sentences remaining ineligible for parole.