The President of Malta

Search
Close this search box.

The President of Malta commemorates the tenth anniversary of the RISe Foundation

PRESS RELEASE BY THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

The President of Malta, George Vella, together with the administration and some of the residents of the RISe Foundation, commemorated the tenth anniversary of the establishment of this foundation which equips inmates in the last phase of their sentence to re-enter society with a solid base.

On this occasion, President Vella and the residents planted ten citrus trees in The President’s Kitchen Garden, and a yellow bow was attached to each tree—a symbol of the acceptance of the RISe Foundation residents in society.

“The fact that a person spends time in the Corradino Correctional Facility because of something they have done is not the end of the road. On the contrary, there is the hope, and hence the name RISe, to rise up, stand on their own feet, realise their mistakes, they will have paid for their actions, but then society must open its arms and welcome them so that they can get back to normal life. Otherwise, the name Correctional Facility would mean nothing,” stated President Vella. The role of the Facility, said the President, is to correct individuals in order to re-enter society better than they were when they entered the facility.

The founder of the programme and director of the RISe Foundation, Charles Mifsud, said that in the last ten years, around ninety residents of the Corradino Correctional Facility and their families followed the programme and were given support in the last year of their sentence before re-entering society. “The Foundation’s aim is to ensure that those who go to prison, come out of prison sufficiently equipped to re-enter society, to not commit, if possible, another crime,” explained Mr Mifsud while noting that the plan for the future is to increase the number of houses of the RISe Foundation and to extend this service to female inmates.

Skip to content