Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri must shoulder political responsibility for the “untenable” situation at the prisons, the PN said on Monday, hours after it was revealed that another inmate had tried to kill himself.
Beppe Fenech Adami, shadow minister for home affairs, told a press conference that the minister had continued to defend the indefensible and he now, therefore, had to shoulder responsibility for what was happening there, including over the latest attempted suicide by an inmate on Sunday.
“Instead of reform, several inmates have died or tried to end their lives. We have had no less than 11 deaths in a few months because of this style of leadership. The situation in prison is not tenable any longer and if it doesn’t change, more lives will be lost. Minister Byron Camilleri must shoulder political responsibility for this situation,” he told a news conference.
PN candidate Darren Carabott took the government to task over the appointment of an independent board set up by the government to review suicide prevention measures at the prison. The board will be led by psychiatrist Anton Grech and will have academic Janice Formosa Pace and medical doctor George Grech as members.
Carabott questioned the board’s independence once Formosa Pace had resigned from CCF’s board of governors to serve on the inquiry board. Anton Grech had served on the prison visitors’ board, while George Grech was also involved in the prison’s management.
“The prison’s management is looking at prisoners as numbers and this is wrong,” Carabott said.
Fenech Adami insisted that Formosa Pace had a conflict and could not properly execute her new role once she formed part of the system before tendering her resignation in order to be appointed to the inquiry.
He said the situation in prison was "precarious" and the system was collapsing.
The PN in May made a raft of proposals for an overhaul of the prison and personal liberty system, proposing also ways to address overcrowding at Corradino prison.
Wider terms of reference for the inquiry needed
In a separate statement, Moviment Graffitti said the composition of the inquiry board needs to be broader.
"While deeply regrettable that it has taken 12 lives and countless suicide attempts for the ministry to abandon its blind faith in prison director Alex Dalli, Moviment Graffitti now hopes that the terms of reference include an investigation into the cruel methods known to be used within the facility. Unfortunately, the terms of reference of this inquiry focus on the inmates at risk of suicide, rather than evaluate the prison system," Moviment Graffitti said.
It observed that the inquiry board's members have also been handpicked by the government, Their loyalty, it stressed, loyalty should be to justice and not to the state. Board members should include civil society representatives and inmates' families to ensure a wide range of views, it added.
"The victims' families and the general public deserve to know what is going on behind the prison walls."
Labour Party reaction
The Labour Party in a statement did not refer to the deaths or attempted suicide of prisoners but said that Fenech Adami was the least qualified to speak about the prisons.
It said that while Fenech Adami was a parliamentary assistant in the Home Affairs Ministery the prisons were 'a jungle' where the most powerful prisoners reigned, workers were intimidated and drug abuse was rife.
It listed reforms in the prisons since, including the engagement of professional staff.