Drugs in prison ‘completely out of hand’

The authorities lack the initiative and political will necessary to address the burgeoning problem of drug trafficking in Malta’s prison, according to Labour Party deputy leader Dr Anglu Farrugia.

Reacting to revelations in court this week that a fully-fledged heroin trafficking circle had been allowed to operate out a cell at the female section of Corradino jail – as well as documentary evidence of comparatively high levels of positive drug testing in prison – Farrugia claimed that a combination of apathy and tolerance on the part of the prison authorities had allowed an existing problem to spiral out of control.

“We have long been arguing that there is a serious drug problem in prison,” Farrugia said.  “It is now completely out of hand. Not only is there compelling evidence of drug trafficking, but we even hear of people who had never taken drugs before going to prison, becoming addicts while serving their sentence.”

It is a problem that is ‘destroying the families of prisoners’, Farrugia added: arguing that the cost of trying to maintain a relative’s drug habit had forced some families into penury.

Part of the reason was tjhat drugs are sold in prison for anywhere up to three times the ordinary street value: an estimate confirmed independently by court testimony to the effect that 

Significantly, the Labour leader argues that the ease with which drugs are now available in prison cannot be attributed merely to a combination of one-off events: on the contrary, it suggests evidence of an organized drug trafficking network… possibly involving individual prison warders.

“There has to be a hidden system, which does not exclude the possibility of people in authority being involved,” the Labour deputy leader said. “Selling drugs in prison is not like selling drugs in the streets. In the case of ordinary drug trafficking there could be a variety of ways the drugs could be entering the country. But prison is a ‘closed shop’ - a contained space. If we were talking about a sachet here and a sachet there, you could almost understand it. But it is clearly much more than that.”

Faced with the evidence, Farrugia reasons there are two questions we should be asking: how are these drugs getting into prison in the first place? As what is being done to address this problem?

“The perception among the population at large – and I can’t say I blame them – is that the authorities are simply content with the situation as it is.”

The lack of initiative in confronting the issue has been independently confirmed – albeit for different reasons – by more than one witness in the ongoing Bickle case. Testifying against her former cellmate, ex-inmate Elaine Muscat said that prison warders were aware of drug use (they could smell heroin being ‘cooked’ in foil) but were too afraid of Bickle to ever do anything about it.

She also claimed that the accused had drugs delivered to her ‘every time she received a visit’ – adding that Bickle received visits more frequently than other inmates, even on days when no visits were allowed.

All this appears to corroborate the growing perception of collusion – passive, if not actively – with prison authorities.

However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs rebutted all accusations of complacency pr inaction with regard to the issue: arguing that the same revelations came about precisely as a result of the ministry’s interest in

“The court proceedings you are referring to (i.e., the Bickle case) are a direct result of the report by the Board of Inquiry that had been appointed by the Minister on 26 August 2008 to investigate and analyse the operation of the Corradino Correctional Facility following the resignation of the Director of Prisons of the time,” a ministry official said in response to questions sent by this newspaper.

“You might recall that upon handing its report to the Minister in March 2009, the same board had recommended that its findings be forwarded to the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police for further investigation. You may wish to note that the then Acting Director of Prisons was appointed when the said inquiry was already under way.”