Prison administration insists allegations of discrimination are 'fabrication'

The administration of the Corradino Correctional Facility has said that the “serious” allegations made against it in Sunday newspaper il-Mument, are a complete fabrication. In the report, the father of an inmate claims that his son had been transferred to humid and cockroach infested cell and that he was being prevented from having prisoners, among other allegations, due to his political beliefs. 

“With reference to what was published in a local newspaper on Sunday 15 January, regarding the treatment of a particular resident of Corradino Correctional Facility, the administration would like to make it clear that it is a complete fabrication with no basis, that there is any form of discrimination, based on political belief or any other motive, in the running of the facility,” read a statement.

“While it is not normal practice for the facility to divulge information regarding its operation, we would like to clarify that in the aforementioned case, a suspicious attitude had been noted during one of the visits to the resident which led the administration to take preventative steps, as it is obliged to.”

The facility also rejected claims that the prisoner in question had not been allowed to have visitors and that he does in fact have regular visitors. Moreover, the administration also refuted that the inmate had had his cell changed because of his political beliefs.

“Owing to the above-mentioned security concerns, the administration felt the need to take preventative steps and for this reason, for a period of time, the prisoner’s visits were of the non-contact type. It is standard procedure, that from time to time, the administration transfers residents from one cell or division to another as part of a number of measures adopted for reasons of security. In this specific case, this happened last in December 2016 when, after an incident that took place in Division 2 and for the prisoner’s own safety, he was transferred to another division.”