In collaboration with the Lands Department, the Housing Department and the Housing Authority, Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl has embarked on this project to offer the possibility of a small temporary residence to prisoners completing their term of sentence and leaving the prisons without any place to live.

Maltese version

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Aims

The temporary shelter is available to prisoners who:

• Have absolutely no other possibility of a temporary residence available in Malta;
• Have already filed an application for alternative residence with the Housing Department; and
• Are ready to abide strictly with the conditions imposed by Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl.

Criteria

The service functions under criteria that include the following:

• The service is only accessible to ex-prisoners who have just left the prisons;
• No person, under no title or circumstance, has the prerogative right to the service;
• No person who had previously been given temporary shelter by Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl acquires a right or prerogative to make use of the service once more in the present or future;
• Every person who had been ousted by Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl from any of its temporary shelters for disciplinary reasons permanently looses the right to make further use of the service;
• Only the Steering Committee of Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl has the right of choosing which particular temporary shelter is offered to a prospective resident;
• When Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl decides on offering a temporary shelter to someone it notifies the police station in charge of the district;
• Prior to accepting an offer for a temporary accommodation in any shelter of Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl the person concerned has to accept formally all the conditions imposed by Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl; and
• Preference shall be given to ex-prisoners from Cospicua.

Conditions

The conditions for a temporary shelter include the following:

• A resident is allowed to use a temporary shelter for not more than six months from the date of entry, during which time s/he is expected to find another accommodation in which to live.
• Every couples of months the resident has a meeting with an official of Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl to review his/her accommodation
• A resident who, upon the expiring of the six months from the day of entry, fails or refuses to leave the temporary shelter is ousted by force with the help of the police.
• The resident is allowed to use the temporary shelter without ever acquiring, in any way whatsoever, in the present or in the future, any title on the same shelter.
• For sufficient reasons, Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl retains the right to stop giving a temporary shelter to a person before the six months expire.
• Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl retains the right to make inspections from time to time, and at any hour of the day, of its temporary shelters without prior notification.
• The resident may not annoy the neighbours of his temporary shelter in anyway whatsoever.
• The resident may not damage the mobile or immobile property of his temporary shelter, or change the physical structure of the building, without being liable to pay for the damage caused.
• In the case when a resident damages the mobile or immobile property of a temporary shelter Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl retains the right to take the necessary steps against him/her, including through court action.
• During his temporary shelter the resident has to adhere strictly to all the conditions imposed by Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl.
• Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl has the right to oust by immediate effect, even if necessary with police force, a resident who is caught breaching the conditions imposed on him/her during his/her temporary shelter.
• At no moment and under no circumstance may a resident lease or rent the temporary shelter to any other person, or use any other means conducive to the same end.
• At no moment and under no circumstance may a resident accept another person to live or sleep with him/her on a permanent basis at the temporary shelter.
• At no moment and under no circumstance may a resident use his/her temporary shelter to make some kind of business; keep therein stolen property or property acquired illegally; or use the shelter for an immoral purpose.
• Without prejudice for the rules stated above, a resident shall be immediately ousted from the temporary shelter once it is established that s/he committed anyone of the offenses that follow:
  • Using drugs;
  • Regularly accepting into the shelter persons who are on drugs; and/or
  • Has committed a new crime whose gravity may lead to a prison sentence.
• Without prejudice for what was stated above, a resident must pay Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl for the consumption of water and electricity during his temporary shelter.
• Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl reserves the right to issue any other rule, apart from the ones stated above, which it sees opportune for particular circumstance.