‘Camilleri must resign now,’ says PN after minister does not even sack Dalli

‘If Camilleri cannot understand the gravity of the situation, the anger of family relatives, and the uncertainty created among the prison wardens, he cannot be minister. Leave now’ 

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

Shadow home affairs minister Beppe Fenech Adami has taken his government counterpart Byron Camilleri to task for not having the mettle to sack prison director Alex Dalli himself after the 14th prison death under his tenure.

“Instead of sacking him, the government allowed Dalli to ‘suspend himself’,” Fenech Adami railed at news of the prison suicide of a 35-year-old inmate.

“The norm should be that the minister shoulders political responsibility for these deaths... if Camilleri cannot understand the gravity of the situation, the anger of family relatives, and the uncertainty created among the prison wardens, he cannot be minister. Leave now,” Fenech Adami said.

“These deaths could have been avoided had the minister not been a hostage to the prison director... despite knowing the system was killing detainees, Camilleri defended Dalli.”

The MP also called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to force Camilleri’s resignation from minister, for having ignored the spate of prison deaths since taking office.

Fenech Adami said the government also had to address a burgeoning foreign population of inmates inside Corradino, many of them sentenced to jail due to false passport breaches. He said the government had failed to have these inmate deported to their countries of origin to serve their sentences.

Byron Camilleri had refused to make Dalli step down and said he wait for the conclusions of an inquiry into prison suicides before taking any decisions. Camilleri set up an inquiry earlier this year after a second death of a prison inmate who attempted suicide, and later died in hospital two weeks after.

Camilleri then refused to remove prison director Alex Dalli, a retired army officer, whose disciplinarian methods are blamed by prison welfare campaigners for the suicides in prison.

Dalli came under intense pressure to resign after two wardens were charged by police with negligence, following the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry into the death of Kim Borg Virtù, who attempted suicide in prison.