The renovation and improvement work at the Corradino Correctional Facility is not only leading to an improvement in the environment for the workers and the people living in the Facility, but is also giving life to projects that are strengthening the rehabilitation aspect. This can be done, because the Corradino Correctional Facility is now drug-free, with more order, which benefits the people in the Facility because more attention can be given to rehabilitation.
Evidence of this is the second learning hub in the Facility which is equipped with modern classrooms and everything necessary to be used for the education and training of the people living in the Facility. The Hub will host a diverse range of subjects, including English, Maltese and Mathematics as well as ICT and digital skills.
Residents at the Facility will also receive lessons in vocational subjects such as hairdressing, sewing, and website design. There will also be an emphasis on courses that increase employability and integration such as CV writing and personal development workshops.
Currently, around 10 educators are giving lessons at CSA. To these one must add educators from different educational institutions such as MCAST, Lifelong Learning Directorate as well as ITS.
A library is also part of the Hub. The library promotes reading as a lifelong habit, while computers and interactive facilities highlight the importance of digital skills, which are indispensable in modern society. The project also includes an art room that provides opportunities for creative expression, allowing people living in the Facility to develop artistic skills and benefit from the therapeutic value of art.
At the inauguration of this learning hub, the Minister for Home Affairs, Security and Employment Byron Camilleri, reiterated that this Government, complemented by the dedication of the workers and professionals that the Correctional Facility currently has, has made and is making a total change, with a genuine attempt towards further rehabilitation, so that these persons return to society as better persons.
The Minister described this learning hub as one that plays a key role in this rehabilitation, with the aim of enabling a person serving a prison sentence to learn and train. This is so that once they are released back into society, they will be a better person, trained enough to find a job and therefore have the opportunity to live a normal life and away from acts that would lead them back to the Facility.
He explained that “We have made and are still making a total change to the prison. From a prison without discipline, without order and without any form of rehabilitation, today we work hard because we have an orderly prison, we can focus on making rehabilitation the very purpose of this place, the learning hub is a big part of that rehabilitation because we want a person serving a prison sentence to be able to learn and train during that sentence so that once they are returned to our society they are a better person.”
The minister ended by saying that this project is evidence of the Government’s clear thinking for the Correctional Facility as well as of the results and progress that have been achieved, results that the Government will not rest on but will continue to build upon.
Chief Executive of the Correctional Services Agency, Chris Siegersma, reiterated the importance of education in the rehabilitation process. He explained that this is how the Court’s sentence is truly carried out, as during their sentence, the people living in the Facility are given all the tools through learning — both academic and practical — to be prepared for the needs of the job market so that once they return to society they can live a normal life that keeps them away from crime, which also means that we have fewer victims.
