The Commissioner for Children said on Tuesday she is seeking information from the Director of Prisons after the former dean of the University's Faculty of Social Wellbeing complained about young children seen in the prisons visitors' hall.

Andrew Azzopardi said in a Facebook post that in visits he had made to the prisons he had seen young children in the visitors' hall. They were there to meet parents or relatives.

The visitors' halls were totally unsuitable for children, degrading and possibly harmful to their mental state, particularly when they would have gone through traumatic events. 

Prof Azzopardi recalled that the government had boasted that it had set up facilities within and outside the prisons for visits by children. Those facilities, therefore, were either not being used or were not being used for everyone.

He urged the commissioner to ensure that this situation was urgently tackled by the government and that proper facilities were provided for children making visits to the prisons. 

He made a number of suggestions, saying children should not be in the main prisons building and visits should be made in appropriate facilities. Ideally,  their relatives should not be wearing prison uniforms and searches should be tactful.

The Children's Commissioner should also be represented on prisons structures such as the visitors' board. 

Extended visits should be arranged on occasions such as birthdays.