When the report of the inquiry into prison operations was published at the end of last week, it was also announced that controversial retired army colonel Alex Dalli will not be reappointed director of Corradino Correctional Facility.

Though the inquiry was sparked off – became ‘a must’ would be a better way of putting it – in the wake of a string of suicides on Dalli’s watch, his notorious methods do not really feature in the report.

True, the main aim of the inquiry was not to point fingers but to review suicide prevention measures in prison and evaluate the support offered to drug dependents.

The magisterial inquiries into the suicides themselves would go into that and it would be in the public interest if their findings are published too.

The way a prison is run and those responsible for its day-to-day operations go together. You can have the best guidelines and procedures in the world that make for a top-class rehabilitation facility but if the people at the top are ‘bullies’ who think their word is law, the place is likely to be no more than a hellhole.

The inquiry made 32 recommendations, including appointing a commissioner for prisoners’ rights, giving more powers to a monitoring board, setting up a rehabilitation centre and having a family room outside the prison walls. An effort should also be made to reduce overcrowding, be more alert to inmates’ suicidal thoughts and mental health, focus on rehabilitation and crack down on excessive punishment, the inquiry board said.

It also went into the personnel and professionals required to ensure the system runs smoothly and that everybody’s rights and dignity are respected.

The transition from the Dalli ‘regime’ to the new system being proposed by the inquiry board will be crucial and a testing time for all stakeholders.

Dalli, who took over in 2018, has been praised for addressing prison violence, weeding out drugs, pushing for upgrades within the Victorian-era facility and overseeing a recruitment drive for ‘rehabilitation’ professionals.

Still, claims of systematic terror, fear, solitary confinement, denial of visitation rights, barring of any communication with the outside world and even of a ‘torture chair’ surfaced over the past months.

Order and discipline can be exercised without the need to resort to institutionalised bullying and brutality or even promoting fear.

Therefore, appointing a replacement for Dalli was a sine qua non if the prison is truly to be reformed.

His successor, Robert Brincau, a former Red Cross official who ran the detention services at Corradino, and the newly appointed commissioner for welfare and development of prisoners, Christopher Siegersma, need all the support they can get from all, including and especially the inmates themselves who must put their trust in the two gentlemen for their own good.

Whether the two succeed, however, depends a lot on having at their disposal all the necessary resources if they are to start delivering on their gargantuan task in the shortest time possible.

“A well-managed prison,” a Council of Europe booklet on prison management had concluded in 2017, “is one in which the environment is decent and humane. In practical terms, these features can be measured by the quality of the human relationships between the prisoners who live there, the staff who work there and anyone who comes to visit for any reason… Among the key issues for consideration are the leadership, the integrity and how to motivate staff, within a framework of ethical principles and values.”

That should be the target of all stakeholders.