It took 14 deaths and a string of grave allegations about harsh, not to say inhuman, treatment in prison for its director, Alexander Dalli, to “suspend himself”.
This is a serious indictment of the government in general and Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri in particular. They should have acted much earlier to dismiss or at least suspend the former military officer.
Even at this late, tragic stage, accepting Dalli’s self-suspension rather than throwing the book at him adds another count to that bill of indictment. Action has been urgently required for a long time to ensure inmates are all treated with dignity.
There has been a precedent. In 1988, a board of inquiry, headed by the late respected judge Maurice Caruana Curran, found that prisoners had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment when Ronald Theuma, a former police inspector, was director. Several inmates in solitary confinement were left without clothing. Theuma resigned.
Theuma had moved to Corradino soon after a revolt which required the intervention of armed police reinforcements to restore order. He was credited with making a number of improvements in prison conditions, including toilets in cells, the organisation of football matches and even taking inmates for a swim.
For the record, the inquiry had been ordered by then Labour prime minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici in March 1986 after allegations in parliament by Guido de Marco from the opposition benches. The government, which had changed the year before the inquiry was concluded, recommended that the public service commission retire Theuma and his chief officer.
In sharp contrast to then, it has required far worse circumstances for the government to reach the stage of having the director step aside. Even then, Dalli’s move is only one of self-suspension.
While it may be deemed by some as a step forward, Dalli cannot return to his post if this is to be considered the beginning of a process that will, hopefully very soon, put an end to this tragic period in the history of the civil prisons.
It must also lead to full accountability for those who, directly or indirectly, by omission or commission, have brought about this situation or allowed it to persist.
No revolts or mass escapes preceded Dalli’s appointment, as had been the case with Theuma. The prison was plagued with drugs, which Dalli claims to have controlled. The question is: at what cost?
One suicide has followed another amid a series of allegations and accounts that indicated, leaving very little doubt, that Dalli ran ‘his’ prison with an iron fist. Judging by the reports coming from within the thick walls of prison, he did so with the help of muscular warders, guns and even a restraining chair.
Apart from suicides over three years, claims have surfaced over the past months of systematic terror, fear, solitary confinement, denial of visitation rights and the barring of any communication with the outside world.
What happened yesterday should have come much sooner but the authorities kept dragging their feet.
Surely, the home affairs minister long ago realised how serious the situation was at Corradino. An inquiry board was set up in early August to probe the prison’s suicide prevention and support procedures – but, clearly, it was too little, too late.
It is pointless to see the authorities once again hide behind a magisterial inquiry and bank on the many members of the public who simply believe prisoners do not even deserve basic dignity.
This has gone too far. CCF needs a total revamp and heads need to roll.