‘Prison is not some Bermuda triangle’: Academic calls out punitive measures at Corradino facility

The University of Malta academic and broadcaster Prof. Andrew Azzopardi launched a scathing criticism of Malta’s correctional facility at Corradino and what he described as its militarisation. 

Azzopardi, dean of the Faculty of Social Wellbeing, said the Corradino prison had been turned into the “3rd regiment of the Armed Forces”, in an obvious reference to its prison director, the retired army Lt. Colonel Alex Dalli and his controversial methods of discipline. 

“We cannot treat the prison as if it was the AFM’s third regiment, but it has to be both secure and provide a transitory process for people to meet with their own humanity rather than make them come to face with the power of aggression,” Azzopardi said.

Col (retd.) Alexander Dalli during an appearance on TVM’s Xarabank

Azzopardi said the CCF was the site of allegations of punitive treatment, such as the inappropriate use of solitary confinement, a humiliating punishment involving the use of a chair, and the curtailment of privileges after someone spoke to the press about the internal situation at CCF. 

READ MORE • Corradino’s disciplinarian governor says he has eliminated drugs from prison

Azzopardi published a long list of criticisms that revealed more unorthodox ways of punishment at CCF. 

He said inmates were transferred from one division to the other by way of punishment, and also called out the “mysterious” death of several prisoners whose inquests had remained unpublicised. 

Azzopardi said prisoners had complained about being denied medical treatment, over-crowded cells, recreational spaces used for incarceration, and study leave not granted to everyone. 

Prison director Alex Dalli has boasted of being a disciplinarian whose tough ways have “eradicated” drugs from CCF, but Azzopardi also called into question this philosophy. 

“It’s good that drugs in prison have been reduced, but having some new uniform, medal and mucking around with sabres doesn’t mean that anything else can be accepted. And nor should the State be meek about changing what is needed inside the CCF just because it finds it hard to find someone to be prison director,” Azzopardi said. 

Azzopardi said the prison was being run as a sort of “vindictive” colony to satisfy a feeling of retribution for victims of crime. “But that’s why the State exists – we have rules, not the law of the jungle, because this is a modern country where people who do something wrong pay for what they have done but works to make them better citizens after they leave prison.” 

Azzopardi was adamant that the prison director’s power to decide who is placed in solitary confinement is removed, and that such reclusion be only resorted to when there is a security threat. “This disciplinarian treatment should be placed in the hands of a board that includes a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a social worker and a lawyer – this until the entire practice is terminated once and for all!” 

He also said Malta’s prison lacked a Constitutionally-appointed board that monitored the work of the prison director. He also suggested that the CCF be placed under the purview of a social policy ministry, not home affairs, to avoid conflicts of interest and to turn prison into a place that heals people, “not one whose system makes them sick.” 

He said the prison director should have a four-year maximum tenure in a bid to curtail “any airs and preferences they cultivate”. 

Azzopardi called for full access to CCF and its inmates for the media, NGOs; and also said crime victims should be given full help. “We must understand that along the line, inmates were too victims whose cry for help at a younger age went ignored. They too are victims of an economic model that prizes greed and enrichment.” 

The academic said Malta required a new prison building that is designed according to the needs of prisoners and commensurate to the acts they have committed. He said prison sentences of less than two years should not be residential, and that parole is truly implemented.