Prison System Policy

Prisons should be a place of rehabilitation and not punishment. Over the past years, there have been a number of deaths within Malta's prisons. The system can't continue as it is.

• Reorientate the prison system from punishment to rehabilitation.
  • Adopt best-practice from the Norwegian Model.
    
• Ensure that prison conditions always comply with human rights and dignity regulations, as laid out by Council of Europe standards, and that administrative powers are not used in a discriminatory way. 
  
• Ensure that prisons are as closely modelled to the outside world as possible to make reintegration and inclusion easier.
  
• Prioritise alternative sanctions (other than prison, such as community service) for certain non-violent crimes.
  
• Ensure the prison education system serves both short- and long-term offenders.
  
• Ban Solitary Confinement.
  
• Offer psychological treatment and/or psychotherapy for prisoners, especially for prisoners that suffer from ADHD in combination with substance abuse.
  
• Ensure that juveniles are not detained with adults.
  
• Ensure that prisoners undergoing strip searches are searched by same-sex prison officers.
  • For certain inmates who adhere to strict religious or cultural obligations, all necessary precautions and measures must be adopted not to cross sensitive boundaries. 
    • Officers must anticipate these requests beforehand.
      
• Provide cultural training for prison officers. 
  • All officers should undergo training to learn the techniques needed to work with incarcerated multi-ethnic communities.