A good tool in the wrong hands!

The Maltese Parliament at the moment is passing a new law on Restorative Justice (Bill No. 73). This Bill, once made law, will introduce parole to Malta for the first time. In my opinion, it is an interesting and challenging law, which I hope will yield the desired results, in the interests of all of Maltese society.

Apart from the fact that the implementation of this Bill, after it becomes law, should bring with it a certain amount of reform in prison, I am particularly interested in the part of the Restorative Justice Bill that deals with victim support, and how this will work out. I believe that aggrieved people require closure, but will the victims go for it? will they be courageous enough to face the criminal? will they tend to be forgiving, or vindictive? will they seek to bleed the perpetrator of his last cent as vendetta, or be reasonable? how many convicted criminals will actually accept that they did wrong, require forgiveness and be ready to offer reparation? Time will show....

But this article is not really about the Restorative Justice Bill. Since the subject is of particular interest to me, any related article I come across will catch my attention. One that caught my eye a few hours ago, concerns Cuba, which has released the last of 52 prisoners President Raul Castro agreed to release in a deal brokered in July by the Roman Catholic Church. The last of these fifty-two inmates, Reuters informs us, refused to leave prison. The reason: they were released on parole.

It seems that the Cuban President wanted these fifty-two inmates to leave the country upon release. Most seem to have agreed, but these last two refused. Eventually the government gave in to pressure and seems to be allowing them to remain in the country, subject to a parole licence.

The political prisoners are not disagreeing with their release, but with the fact that they are being released subject to a parole licence. This would mean that their liberty is subject to a number of conditions, in the parole licence. Their liberty is compromised.

Parole is usually a positive thing and is usually regarded as such by all involved parties, the inmate included. It is the return of one's liberty on condition that the individual will not commit another offence, and will behave as a good, reformed citizen ('parole' implies giving one's word to behave better in future). Inmates usually work hard to be allowed out on parole, make sure they keep out of trouble in prison, behave well, etc., hoping to get their parole application approved. Presumably, they cherish their freedom so much that they will do their best to abide by the parole conditions, once they are out, to ensure that they are not made to return back behind bars. I say 'presumably' because while I know for a fact that in Malta a number of inmates are looking forward to the parole law being passed, because they hope to benefit from it, the fact still remains that in Malta we have no first hand experience yet on how parole will work once introduced. This notwithstanding, I think it is safe to presume that the inmate who is out on parole will not want to return to prison; therefore he will try to abide by the parole conditions.

This time, however, parole has raised an eyebrow: my eyebrow that is. The Cuban government makes no secret of the fact that it does not appreciate dissidents. They are considered to be enemies, and tend to end up expelled, outlawed, jailed, etc. The Cuban government, after jailing these particular dissidents, sought to expel them from the country. Failing this, it released them on parole. In the process, it is using a tool that is intended to ensure that an inmate leads a crime-free life after leaving prison, to keep control of political dissidents. I would love to learn a little bit about the parole conditions imposed on Hector Maseda and Angel Moya, in particular whether they will be able to exercise any right to express their political opinions in future, or whether this will earn them a breach of parole conditions and land them back in jail .....

This reminds me of the sharp kitchen knife, intended to cut food efficiently and effectively, but which in the wrong hands could be abused instead .....

 The Reuters article is available here