Sarah Carabott went on the first journalists’ tour of a detention centre for several years. It was a controlled visit.

“Freedom! We do not want to remain in prison,” two men shout in a north African accent through the netting surrounding their outdoor area.

Wearing brightly coloured shirts, they peer at us as we walk around the Safi compound where they have been detained for several months.

The two men are among a group of Moroccans who have been in Malta since last summer. They are waiting for their home country to issue the necessary documents for them to return, welfare officer Kyle Mifsud explains.

Most detainees spend around three weeks at Safi detention centre before being moved to an open centre as they await a decision on their asylum request.

Others, ineligible for asylum, could spend months there until they are returned home. But it is rare that they stay as long as 18 months, as allowed by law, Mifsud adds.

I am not allowed to speak to the migrants at Safi. Similarly, I cannot record, film or photograph anything within the detention centre and I was asked to leave my voice recorder and mobile phone at the gate.

The visit has been long in coming – it has been at least eight years since journalists from any media organisation have been given a tour of the compound.

A new protocol has now been drawn up specifically for the media. But journalists need to follow the route chosen by the detention services administration and are always accompanied by a representative.

I am accompanied by Mifsud, head of detention service Robert Brincau and the Home Affairs Ministry’s Ryan Spagnol.

The first thing I notice is that service officers have swapped their intimidating dark tops for beige ones. No batons are visible either, and Brincau says pepper spray was last used in September during a protest.

Engaging with detainees

Brincau took on the new role towards the end of last year and since then, the number of CCTV cameras has tripled in a bid to increase accountability and free up more detention officers to “engage” with the detainees rather than just guard them. “We’re trying to bring officers closer to the migrants by stationing them in a room within the building, rather than posting them in cabins outside the block.

“And in balancing security issues with humanitarian welfare, officers do not just guard detainees – they also take care of recreational activities, transport people, manage stocks in our stores and carry out maintenance work, among others,” Brincau says.

The number of detention officials has been increased from 140 to 250, while private security services are no longer engaged.

I spot several officers in Block B, which is made up of two large halls, each able to sleep 250 people on bunk beds. The dormitory to the right has been vacated and is being refurbished after being damaged during a protest in 2019.

The one to the left is bustling with activity.

Inside, some officers are speaking to migrants. A couple of the detainees are scrolling through officers’ phones. 

One member of staff explains that he has built a trusting relationship with some of the detainees and uses his personal phone to help them communicate with their relatives back home.

Minors kept apart

Safi barracks, which can host up to 980 people, is for men only. About 265 detainees are waiting to be returned to their home country while another 89 are in quarantine following disembarkation, in line with COVID health mitigation measures. The most common nationalities at Safi are Bangladeshi, Sudanese and Moroccan.

Whenever possible, people with clashing beliefs or ethnicities are kept apart from one other, while those claiming to be unaccompanied minors are also kept separate from adults as they await the outcome of their age assessment, unless they request otherwise.

We explain that harming themselves will not prompt their release

Irrespective of their age, however, they spend the first two weeks upon arrival quarantined with people who were on the same boat.

Once asylum seekers are confirmed to be minors, they are moved out of Safi because children’s place is not in a detention centre, Brincau says. Those who are obviously minors do not step foot in Safi.

Migrants’ welfare

According to a recent report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, migrants in detention have limited access to the outside world, including lawyers, detention monitors and civil society organisations.

Times of Malta has also been told that while humanitarian lawyers can visit clients, they need to have identified them beforehand; they cannot access the centre to detect vulnerable people who are not aware of the pro bono service.

The UNHCR, Mifsud says, holds information sessions with the detainees while community leaders are in touch with the officers to flag specific needs such as dietary requirements.

Migrants are also followed by professionals from the European Asylum Support Office and the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers.

“It is very difficult for vulnerable people to fall through the cracks,” Spagnol says.

Apart from psychological trauma, some migrants also need treatment for physical ailments, such as kidney stones and limb fractures, soon after landing in Malta. 

The centre has started providing in-house ophthalmic and genitourinary screening. The plan is to provide dental and infectious disease screening on site as well, while increasing the number of healthcare professionals.

Self-harm reports

In terms of mental health issues, the OHCRC flagged multiple instances of depression, self-harm and attempted suicide.

It has been alleged that some guards taunted detainees, telling them to “go ahead, kill yourselves”.

Mifsud, a mental health nurse by profession, says there have been two cases of people deemed at risk of suicide since last September. The centre sees a spike of “self-harm threats” when detainees receive news of the authorities’ decision to return them home.

“In such cases we explain to them that harming themselves will not prompt their release.”

The centre has meanwhile taken other precautions, I am told. Following incidents where detainees swallowed soap to self-harm, the centre started purchasing non-toxic soap instead. 

It also installed “vandal-proof” showerheads, while water boilers are placed outside of the compounds, accessible from inside through a tap.

In one of the yards where migrants spend their “outdoor time”, a makeshift football net, made from what looks like chipboard, stands solitary in the scorching sun. Its only companions are a mattress and a pillow. The yard looks bare and depressing, but I am told outdoor furniture could quickly turn into a weapon during some argument.

Asked about claims of migrants being forced to drink water out of the toilet and of lack of fans, I am shown toilets of the squatting kind with a hand-held bidet sprayer, and a flushing system installed outside the building, out of reach.

And while there are no air conditioner units in the dormitories, around one ceiling fan for every 10 detainees is visible in the dormitories that I was given access to.