A White Paper proposing a series of prison reforms, including the introduction of parole and the concept of restorative justice, will be published in October, the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs has promised.

The pledge comes in the wake of negative media reports and pressure from NGOs for the prison system to become a correctional facility rather than a place of punishment. Although Corradino is officially touted as a correctional facility, a study released this year by Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl, a voluntary organisation that works to promote the well-being of inmates and their families, showed that out of every two Maltese prisoners released from jail, one is likely to return behind bars.

Reforming the prisons is no simple task and even those at the heart of the campaign to introduce such reforms are sceptical, arguing that many areas of the criminal system still leave much to be desired.

"Community service is already part of the law but it is rarely used. Probation is given very often but there aren't enough probation officers. It's impossible to cope with the kind of caseload these officers have. I'm afraid that the same will happen with parole," Sue Micallef, a criminologist, said.

Parole enables prisoners to reintegrate slowly into society by being conditionally released after serving part of their sentence while still being supervised accordingly. This gives prisoners the chance to start working and interact with their families and the rest of society instead of becoming institutionalised and idle. It also gives prisoners something to look forward to, providing an incentive to study or learn a trade while in prison.

Restorative justice is an umbrella term for different methods of criminal justice that include rehabilitation, community service, reconciliation with victims and counselling.

The idea behind restorative justice is that crime is committed against persons and communities who, in turn, deserve compensation. It is also based on the concept of reform: If prisoners are given the right counselling and made to understand the consequences of their crimes they might change their ways.

Community service can be especially effective if used more frequently in cases of fines because, rather than costing the government money to house such people in prisons, they will be able to give something back to the country in terms of work. This work could include cleaning, maintenance, whitewashing, trades and so on.

"There will always be those that find it difficult to reform. But the vast majority want to and will be able to change if they are given the tools," argued Ms Micallef, one of the most prominent parole activists.

She explained that restorative justice may even include criminals being given a chance to meet their victims in order to put a face to the crimes they have committed and understand the consequences through the emotions of their victims. However, all of this needs to be seen within the context of the types of crimes committed, the willingness of the victims and what the White Paper will propose.

The Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl survey had also found that very few prisoners are given appropriate skills training or any form of education and that 45 per cent of them do absolutely nothing during their stay.

"Since the vast majority of prisoners are drug addicts who find their way to prison by committing crimes to fund their addictions, most of them want to change and with the right treatment they can," Ms Micallef said.

She believes that this comes down to political will and that it is the ministry that needs to provide enough investment and training to ensure a better criminal system.

"Correctional officers have only one week of training. It's a joke... There aren't enough social workers, doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists. The prison needs to adapt itself and become a learning and rehabilitation centre and not just a cage for the 'bad guys'," she argued.

Ms Micallef said that former prison director Sandro Gatt, who stepped down a few weeks ago following media reports about his leadership, was unjustly harangued by the media.

"He was a good guy, with true human values and the prison will suffer without him. His resignation will not bring change," Ms Micallef said.

She thinks that change will happen if the new prison director is someone who is qualified in correctional management rather than a policeman who has been trained to bring people to justice and punish wrongdoers.

Although the Home Affairs Ministry has been promising the White Paper for months, Ms Micallef fears it will be "one big disappointment".

"Without enough investment and political will, the proposals will remain on paper or will be introduced poorly. How can we introduce parole and restorative justice before we sort out the problems we are having with probation and community service and before the people running and working at the prison are properly trained and qualified in correction?"