A group of civil society organisations have added their voice to calls for the resignation of the home affairs minister, urging reparations for "victims" of former Director of Prisons Alex Dalli's "cruelty".

The call follows shocking findings by the Ombudsman whose office investigated conditions in Corradino Prison during Dalli's tenure.

The organisations are also urging for the removal of Dalli from any government position. Dalli was handed a €100,000-a-year appointment as special envoy in Libya when he resigned as prisons director. 

An investigation by the Ombudsman found Dalli’s prison degraded inmates and subjected them to pervasive intimidation and fear, with an inmate describing the place as a 'factory of evil'.

A damning and disturbing 30-page report - based on extensive staff and inmates’ testimonies - was released last week. 

Political parties and NGOs have since called for the resignation of Camilleri and an investigation into Dalli.

But Camilleri stood by Dalli's recent appointment, telling Times of Malta the country benefitted from his work in Libya especially when it came to irregular migration.

On Wednesday, a group of civil society organisations said Dalli had stripped inmates of their human dignity and actively fostered an environment of abuse, humiliation and violence.

"Vulnerable inmates – people 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."

But despite the published information on the "infernal situation" at CCF, the government held nobody to account.

Instead, in yet another exercise of impunity and lack of accountability, the government entrusted 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, the group added.

"It beggars belief that the home affairs ministry is now defending Dalli’s position, notwithstanding this extremely damning Ombudsman report."

They welcomed initiatives implemented in recent years, including prosecutions against two prison warders, adding that, however, no other disciplinary measures had been taken.

It was also not clear if reparation and compensatory schemes had been established to provide victims of such harsh human rights violations with the justice they deserved and, where needed, support for their recovery. To date, no senior figure has been held criminally or politically responsible, they noted. 

They insisted that the weight of responsibility for this scale of institutionalised human rights violations lay with the home affairs ministry.

"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."

They urged the prime minister to immediately:

• Request Minister Camilleri to step down from his position
• Remove Alexander Dalli from any Government position
• Establish a reparation and compensation scheme for victims of Dalli’s cruelty
• Publish a timeline for the prompt implementation of the Ombudsman’s recommendations
• Grant real access to all places where anyone is deprived of their liberty to civil society organisations and the media

The 19 organisations and individuals are aditus foundation, African Media Association Malta, Blue Door Education, Dar Hosea, Department of Youth, Community & Migration Studies, University of Malta, Drachma LGBTI7, 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 the Women’s Rights Foundation.