https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/347 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 07:33:33 GMT 2026-04-22T07:33:33Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145083 Title: Double imprisonment : the trans experience in prison : issues and policy Authors: Scicluna, Sandra Abstract: The criminal justice system disproportionately affects transgender individuals, who face heightened risks of violence, discrimination, and inadequate healthcare within prisons. This paper investigates the unique challenges transgender prisoners encounter, emphasizing the intersectionality of their experiences with race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, While global data on transgender incarceration rates is limited, studies reveal a higher prevalence of sexual assault and other forms of victimization among transgender inmates compared to the general prison population. The paper aims to analyze these issues and propose reforms, using Malta as a case study for potential solutions. Theoretical frameworks like minority stress theory and intersectionality are employed to understand the complex social and psychological dimensions of transgender prisoners' experiences. Best practice examples related to placement with individuals with the same identity orientation, health access to hormone therapy, addressing trauma – both past and present, training of staff and need research are discussed. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145083 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145050 Title: European norms, policy and practice Authors: Morgenstern, Christine; Larrauri, Elena; Bruckmüller, Karin; Caenazzo, Luciana; Canton, Rob; Čepas, Algimantas; Johnsen, Berit; Snacken, Sonja; Mair, George; Scicluna, Sandra; Ravagnani, Luisa; van Zyl Smit, Dirk Abstract: We now have evidence that there is a specifically European approach to key aspects of punishment. There is a pan-European rejection of the death penalty, a European approach to prisoners’ rights, and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture as a strong monitoring body, and we also share the idea that imprisonment must be used as ultima ratio (van Zyl Smit and Snacken, 2009). What we want to know is whether this approach extends to punishment and supervision enforced outside prisons – that is, to community sanctions as sentences and supervision measures before or instead of trial. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145050 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145035 Title: The mad, the bad and the pauper : help and control in early modern control in carceral institutions Authors: Scicluna, Sandra Abstract: This essay looks at institutions of confinement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including asylums, workhouses, and hospitals. Most of the illustrations are taken from research done on relevant documents of the time as well as criticism of these institutions both in the nineteenth century, when there was widespread reform in carceral institutions and by modern authors who have studied this period. When analyzing the development of punishment and confinement, one can infer four theoretical perspectives (Scicluna 2004). Durkheim contends that confinement exists to unite society (Walker 1991). Spierenburg (1984), on the other hand, writes that it is the changes in society that bring about change in confinement, moving from the more brutal to a gentler form of punishment. Foucault (1977) believes that confinement serves as a means to control the population, while Marxist theorists like Rusche and Kirchheimer (1939) see confinement as serving to control conflict in society. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145035 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145034 Title: Prisoners of the sun : the British empire and imprisonment in Malta in the early nineteenth century Authors: Scicluna, Sandra; Knepper, Paul Abstract: The 'birth of the prison' has been linked to replacement of the ancient regime and the emergence of industrial, capitalist society. But this explanation gives insufficient attention to the role of the British Empire in diffusion of the prison as an institution and the continuing role of the sovereign in its political message. This essay focuses on the establishment of the prison at Corradino, in Malta, from initial plans in the 1830s through to its inaugural year in 1850. Drawing on archival materials in London and Malta, we explore the role of British social attitudes in empire-making and prison construction. Specifically, we explore the making of colonial prison policy, the architecture of the prison and colonial social hierarchy, the role of Catholic ritual in prison discipline, beliefs about 'race' and criminality, and the significance of prison labour in a non-industrial context. Building Her Majesty's prison in Malta made it impossible for the Maltese to forget that they were subjects of a sovereign and not citizens in their own republic. Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145034 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z