Landscaping consortium to help ease inmates’ transition back into society

The Environment and Landscapes Consortium (ELC) is providing inmates with a chance to integrate back into society, by offering them employment within their landscaping unit.

The programme - which currently hosts five inmates with plans to introduce 10 more - accepts pre-release inmates in an effort to ease their transition from prison into society.

Some inmates are also provided with the opportunity to achieve a MQF Level 3 certificate with the consortium, equivalent to an O’level certification.

Prison CEO Randolf Spiteri praised the ELC's efforts and called for more similar initiates to be launched.

“A large majority of people choose to focus on the negative aspects of things, rather than the good aspects, but the ELC has taken a step in the right direction," he said. "This reflects the shift in mentality we'd like to see."

Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia said that society still tended to reject people who had made mistakes in their life. Initiatives such as that launched by ELC went a long way to show that there is a willingness from these inmates to make amends.

“This programme is a leap forward in mentality. These inmates have realised their mistakes and, through discipline and will, have shown that they want to change,” he said.

On the recently-commissioned prison brief, the Minister said that the study had been finalised and presented to him, with results expected to be published in the coming days.

“Through the prison brief, we now have a clear picture on what needs to change," he said. "Hopefully we can rehabilitate and improve the facility to transition it from a prison of the 19th century to one of the 21st."