The government has recently launched a white paper aimed to reform the justice system. Proposals include the possibility of introducing a parole system and other mechanisms aimed, in the minister’s words, “to reduce the rate of criminality”.

In addressing journalists on the presentation of the white paper, Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said the government is aiming for a “restorative way” of how justice is administered, aiming to cut down on the number of people who end up relapsing.

Over the years, there is no doubt that much has been done to improve the conditions of inmates serving time. For a long time, prisoners were simply locked up and forgotten, but with the evolvement of society we started talking about prisoners’ rights and respect towards offenders serving time.

When one speaks of restorative justice, one can immediately refer to the introduction of what is known as suspended sentences, introduced a few years ago. People found guilty can now be given a jail term which is suspended for a period of time, rather than an outright jail term, in a bid to keep them within society to give them a second chance. If they commit another crime during the period in question, then the original sentence is added to their second punishment.

The government now aims to go one step further by introducing a parole system, whereby prisoners who are serving time are allowed a partial reprieve to enable them to start re-integrating themselves into society when their jail term is about to end.

Let us, first and foremost, not forget that prisoners already serve only two-thirds of the jail term they are given, due to the remission procedure. If prisoners behave themselves, they are entitled to a four-month deduction for each of the years they are sent to prison. As such, this already means that prisoners are serving less time than they are supposed to, and society is so used to it that, each time someone is given a sentence, people automatically always deduct one third of it to see when he or she would be let out.

Now the idea is to introduce parole, an altogether different matter than remission, but also aimed to show some kind of mercy to people who have committed crimes against society, and help them find their place within that same society once again.

The white paper presented by the government speaks of a new concept as to how remission and parole could be used. Dr Mifsud Bonnici spoke about a link between remission (and parole) and restorative justice measures such as conditions related to the release of inmates and compensation to victims.

This is, perhaps, the most important part of the white paper. This is because very often we tend to speak about the rights of prisoners and their re-integration into society while forgetting that there are law-abiding citizens who have suffered the consequences of the crime committed by people sent to prison.

Many times victims of crime find it hard to return to their normal way of life after being raped, beaten, robbed and so on. Yet we seem to forget this and speak only about the rights of those who caused their suffering.

There are other measures which Dr Mifsud Bonnici listed as ways to help prisoners literally starting a new life once they serve their time. Among them is the re-organisation of educational structures within the prison, aimed to give inmates a better chance when they are allowed back into society.

But, at the end of the day, it is up to each and every individual to give himself or herself an opportunity to start afresh. The courts of justice often give offenders many chances before they hand down a prison sentence, perhaps to the chagrin of society. If prisoners are now to be given more and better opportunities with which to make an attempt to start a new chapter, only they can make it really happen.