Alfred Bugeja il-Porporina left prison last month with tearful eyes and words of praise and gratitude to guards who, he said, meant everything to him.

With consent from a family member, Times of Malta is releasing a recording of one of his final conversations with prison director Chris Siegersma and other guards on the eve of his release from the Corradino Correction Facility (CCF).

The encounter happened by chance during Times Talk's tour of the facility last month.

During the short conversation, Bugeja - who had been in and out of prison for decades to serve time for various crimes - promised prison officials he would never forget what they did for him and that he will miss them once he is out.

"I've been here for 15 years. I won't lose hope for sure, out of respect of the people here who helped me, I won't lose hope. Thank you very much, to all of you," he is heard telling Siegersma.

Siegersma tells him to keep strong and to do his best to feel at home at St Vincent de Paul and to never look back on his time in prison.

"Forget about prison now. You've been here long enough. Take care. I'll come visit you, and when I do, I want to see you doing well. It will be tough at the beginning, but you'll get used to it, like you did here. Be strong, don't lose hope," he says before il-Porporina thanks him one last time and is wheeled away in a wheelchair by another official.

Released a day later

Bugeja was leaving prison on parole the day after, to go to reside in St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly, where he died last Monday, aged 67, after a long battle with cancer. 

This is the last known recording of his voice, which had become frail due to his ailing health.

Times of Malta only managed to record the last part of the conversation, during which a tearful Bugeja also told Siegersma and the guards around him: "I will never forget what you all did for me, and I will be grateful to all of you forever, even after I die. I promise I will."

Siegersma was visibly moved following the encounter.

The recording was already released in the Times Talk episode that documented the tour, but Bugeja's identity was, until now, left concealed as Times of Malta had agreed with prison authorities to refrain from identifying inmates.

The recording is being published again now, identifying the inmate as Bugeja,  with permission from a member of his family, who said he often sought the camera to speak publicly about his past and would have loved for people to hear what he had to say about prison just before he was released on parole.

Bugeja often showed up on television shows such as Xarabank to speak his mind about justice and warn young people of the dangers of criminality, and he appeared in his last extensive interview in a documentary about prison produced by academic Andrew Azzopardi and journalist Peppi Azzopardi which was released a few months ago.

Bugeja had previously publicly praised and thanked other prison administrations as well, including Alex Dalli's, who he said put him "on the right path".