It was exactly a month ago, on 11 July, that we had written a leader decrying the situation at the Corradino Correctional Facility.

That leader was written following the death of a 29-year-old inmate three weeks after a suicide attempt. She had been in prison for fraud and had wanted to start a drug rehabilitation programme, which was denied to her because of existing rules. An inmate needs to have spent six months in jail before applying for drug rehab services, a rule that has been criticised by NGOs who take care of prisoners, who argue that there should be more flexibility.

We had highlighted that plight in the hope that it would have been the last such incident, and that the authorities responsible would have taken some measures for something similar not to be repeated.

How wrong we were.

It took less than a month for another suicide attempt to take place. Last Sunday, another inmate was rushed to hospital after trying to end his life. The 30-year-old man was taken to hospital for treatment.

People are kept in prison because they have been found guilty of committing a crime, but this does not mean that they should lose their dignity. Most of all, the authorities should see that their time in prison serves as a rehabilitation process for their return to society. It must be remembered that very few prisoners are there for life, and so the many inmates who will one day be released should be given as much assistance as possible for a smooth transition into society once they serve their sentence.

There have been 12 deaths in prison in the last three years, apart from several other reports concerning the way prisoners are treated. The government, so reluctant to take action and so lenient on repeated reports of abuses in prison, seems to have finally woken up to do something about the situation. Better late than never, it is said.

Within hours of this latest incident, the Home Ministry appointed a board which is the investigate the procedures that are currently in place, in particular with regard to the mental and physical wellbeing of the inmates at various stages of their imprisonment – either at the start of their sentence, which is certainly a trauma for first-time offenders; during the course of the sentence and also when they are returning to Kordin after spending time in a mental health institution.

One other point that the board will investigate is how suicides or attempted suicides could be prevented. This is, perhaps, the most important part of their task, as every life is precious.

That the board is led by a respected and renowned psychiatrist, Anton Grech, is in itself reassuring that in the 60 days that it has been given, the board will do its utmost to find out what is going wrong and how this could be corrected.

Yet, what is equally important is that once the board presents its report to the government, the suggestions made are implemented as quickly as possible. It would be useless to appoint professionals to do a job and then discard their work.