Speculation over the quality and quantity of rehabilitation programmes available for prisoners in Malta has been the at the centre of many debates. The Malta Independent on Sunday contacted the Ministry for Home Affairs to get to the bottom of things.

According to the Correctional Services Agency (CSA), since February 2020, “every new admission is assessed by Care, Reintegration and Education Unit (CRU) personnel […] who create a tailored plan according to the person’s individual needs.”

The CSA consists of medical officers, social workers, psychologists and care plan coordinators who assess the individual and encourage the prisoner to complete a set of rehabilitation programmes which are selected after the analysis has been done on the person.

These programmes and courses are all aimed at removing criminogenic needs and inmates are required to complete various psychology informed programmes which tackle anger management, sex offender treatment and cognitive skills programmes, the CSA said.

“These programmes are delivered in house and on a one to one or group basis […] motivational sessions are also delivered to help increase the sense of commitment and change.”

External agencies such as Rise Foundation, the Institute for Family Therapy and Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl also offer their services to inmates at various stages of their sentence, CSA said.

CSA also remarked that it has been working on a reintegration programme which imparts life skills, cognitive thinking, occupational health and safety as well as added daily physical activities.

Prisoners are also allowed to finish off their sentence in a form of community-based approach to aid in their reintegration. This period of reintegration is determined on the particular progress of the individuals.

Apart from the psychological programmes available for prisoners, educational courses are also available for prisoners. These courses are offered both in house as well as through external institutions.

The CSA stated that these educational courses are only compulsory for inmates under 16 years. From a total of 786 inmates, 66% take part in a form of educational and sports programmes.

Apart from educational programmes, the CSA provides alternatives for inmates who are not interested in educational courses in the form of trade and vocational education. This includes construction, plastering, gypsum, plumbing and woodworking.

The educational courses, on the other hand, include face to face classes in English, Spanish, Maltese, ICT, Maths, nutrition, cookery, photography, food handling and financial management classes.

Sports programmes are also an important factor in the everyday life of prisoners. Multiple facilities are undergoing major refurbishment in order to encourage more physical activity among inmates.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the educational and sports programmes had to be temporarily suspended, the CSA said, but “despite piloting the option of online sessions, the desired results were not achieved as prisoners seem to value more the interaction of having teachers in classrooms.”

The CSA confirmed that it is committed to helping an individual resettle “into the community and prepares referrals for social services, community social workers, employment advisors and community mental health services.”

This work is also done in conjunction with specialised stakeholders in drug rehabilitation and other specified agencies.