Remove Camilleri over Ombudsman’s damning prison report, Aditus tell Prime Minister
Aditus Foundation insists Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri is responsible for Corradino Correctional Facility’s institutional mismanagement under former prison director Alex Dalli

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri is responsible for Corradino Correctional Facility’s institutional mismanagement, NGO Aditius Foundation said.
“Minister Camilleri oversaw this collapse of one of the most important institutions under his wing, to the detriment of those inmates who fell under Dalli’s reign of terror. His continued tenure is indefensible. He must resign immediately. Malta needs justice, not more cover-ups,” the NGO said.
Aditius Foundation was reacting to the Ombudsman’s damning report on the Corradino Correctional Facility’s (CCF) management under former prison director Alex Dalli. The 30-page report revealed racism, intimidation and degrading treatment was rife during Dalli’s tenure.
Aditus joins a list of NGOs and organisations calling for political responsibility to be shouldered by Byron Camilleri, who the groups argue had defended Dalli’s tactics.
“The Ombudsman’s prison report reveals the appalling situation in prison prevailing under Alexander Dalli’s Directorship. Dalli stripped inmates of their human dignity and actively fostered an environment of abuse, humiliation and violence. Vulnerable inmates – persons with addiction or mental health problems, and migrants – were specifically targeted by his tyranny through practices that are the stuff of nightmares. Under his watch, Malta had the dubious honour of having the highest percentage of deaths inside penal institutions both in terms of general mortality rate and in terms of suicide rate,” Aditus said.
The NGO argued despite information on the “infernal situation” at CCF, government has held nobody to account.
“Instead, in yet another exercise of impunity and lack of accountability, the Government entrusted Alexander Dalli with the highly lucrative job of running the so-called Malta-Libya Coordination Centre with the power to oversee the very same groups he had racially humiliated and abused: migrants. It beggars belief that the Home Affairs Ministry is now defending Dalli’s position, notwithstanding this extremely damning Ombudsman report,” Aditus said.
It welcomed initiatives implemented in recent years, including the prosecutions against two prison warders. “Nonetheless, no other disciplinary measures were taken. It is also not clear if reparation and compensatory schemes have been established to provide victims of such harsh human rights violations with the justice they deserve and, where needed, support for their recovery. To date, no senior figure was held criminally or politically responsible.”
The NGO want the Prime Minister to request Byron Camilleri to step down from his position, to remove Alex Dalli from his role, establish a reparation and compensation scheme for victims of Dalli’s cruelty, publish a timeline for the prompt implementation of the Ombudsman’s recommendations and grant real access to all places where anyone is deprived of their liberty to civil society organisations and the media.
The statement was signed by: Aditus foundation, African Media Association Malta, Blue Door Education, Dar Hosea, Department of Youth, Community & Migration Studies, University of Malta, Drachma LGBTI, Drachma Parents, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, Jesuit Refugee Service (Malta), The Joint Action Movement, Mediterranean Aid Education Centre Italy, MGRM, Moviment Graffitti, Paulo Freire Institute, PEN Malta, Prof. Andrew Azzopardi, Spark15, St. Jeanne Antide Foundation and Women’s Rights Foundation.
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