A notice in Malta's prison telling staff that their job is to "teach fear" is obscene and an attack on work done by the police, lawyers and court system to bring criminals to justice, Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech said on Saturday.

Grech said he would remove colonel Alexander Dalli, who heads Corradino Correctional Facility, if he were to be prime minister. 

Speaking during a radio interview held on Radio 103 hosted by Andrew Azzopardi, Grech said the CCF notice was proof of abuse within Malta's prison system.

The note in question, which is signed by Dalli, stated that the role of the prison is “to teach fear”,

“The inmate does not fear the police, the judge or the jury. Therefore it is our job to teach fear. Welcome to prison!”, it reads. 

A photo of the notice was published online this week. The Home Affairs Ministry subsequently said that the notice was no longer in prison.  

Grech said it was "horrible" to read the note and to see the government's lack of reaction to it. 

“This government does not recognise the damage being caused in our prison, how such a message can have a damaging effect on our prisoners, our police, lawyers and judiciary system as a whole," he said. 

A photo of the note that was affixed inside prison.

Party media should not take advantage of Helena Dalli’s son

Grech was also questioned about a court ruling to jail the son of European Commissioner Helena Dalli for three months on ecstasy trafficking charges dating back to 2013. 

He said he had instructed PN media not to highlight the fact that the culprit was Dalli's son, as he did not want to get political mileage out of the matter. 

Grech used a personal anecdote to make his point, recalling how in March 2004 he had hit an 18-year-old pedestrian with his car. A Labour-leaning newspaper, he said, had reported the incident and highlighted the fact that he was a "lawyer".   

“Party media should not take advantage of such situations, as it does not matter who the person is or what their occupation is,” Grech said. 

Grech said it had taken eight years for the Dalli case to be resolved because the government had spent seven years failing to address issues with a large backlog of cases. 

COVID-19 situation

On the topic of the pandemic, Grech said that the government must be more honest with the public. 

“I have said this time and time again, our government has moved too quickly. At a time when we nearly eradicated the virus, we opened our airports too early. If we had continued to follow certain measures, we might have been able to eradicate the virus completely.”

He appealed for the public to follow instructions given by Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci and to abide by public health measures.