Counsellor asks who from psychologists working in prison will stand up to protect inmates

Renowned sex counsellor Matthew Bartolo has joined the chorus of people concerned with the situation in prison and calling on psychologists there to protect inmates’ wellbeing.

In a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday he referenced a psychological experiment from the 1970 that sought to understand how normal humans reacted when placed in a position of power.

The experiment by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo, immortalised in the 2015 film The Stanford Experiment, saw students playing the role of either prisoners or prison guard.

The experiment was abandoned after six days when psychologist Christina Maslach, who was brought in to conduct interviews with the guards and prisoners, strongly objected when she saw the prisoners being abused by the guards.

Bartolo said that when he reads what is going on in the Corradino Correctional Facility, he can’t but compare the two situations.

He poignantly asked if mentally stable and healthy individuals who were just chosen to participate in an experiment can get to be so violent and evil, how about people who choose to be in a position of power, when put with people who have truly wronged society.

Bartolo said Prof. Zimbardo chose to end the experiment within six days, expressing concern at how in Malta no one has put an end to the situation in prison despite the atrocities being perpetrated.

He then asked: “Who is going to be the Christina Maslach at CCF? Who from my colleagues there (psychologists) will come up to protect the wellbeing of their clients (inmates)?”

The prison was cast into the spotlight again a couple of weeks ago when a magisterial inquiry into the death of an inmate who attempted suicide recommended criminal action against two warders. The warders are expected to be charged with involuntary homicide of 29-year-old Kim Borg.

Borg’s father has spoken publicly about his daughter’s traumatic stay at CCF, claiming that she was humiliated and ridiculed. He also said that it was only when his daughter was in hospital that a prison doctor told him that she had tried to commit suicide four times.

The prison authorities had said in their statement after the attempted suicide that Borg never displayed suicidal tendencies. 

Prison rights activists Andrew Azzopardi and Peppi Azzopardi have called for responsibility to be shouldered by the whole management at CCF.

The facility has been run since 2018 with an iron fist by retired army officer Alex Dalli, whose draconian disciplinarian measures are blamed for causing mental stress and humiliation among inmates.

The Opposition has also called for Dalli’s removal and for Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri to shoulder responsibility.

Camilleri has remained silent as to whether Dalli's position is tenable, insisting he will base his decisions on facts.

There have been 14 deaths in prison under Dalli’s command, five of which are believed to have been suicide attempts.

Only this summer, two inmates attempted suicide and later died in hospital – one of them was Borg. The minister appointed an independent inquiry after the second death to probe among other things the prison’s suicide prevention measures.

The inquiry is ongoing.

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