Updated 3pm with PN statement below.

A number of elderly residents at the St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly believe the increased security measures at the institution have turned it into a prison. 

“It feels like I’m spending the last few days, months or years of my life in a prison without committing a crime,” one resident told Times of Malta.

The claims have been contested by Active Ageing Minister Jo-Etienne Abela, who instead said changes to the care home had turned it into a "safer place".   

Residents' explosive claims    

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, the man said the number of security officers, which has tripled since the disappearance of a resident in June, also made it feel like it was a correctional institution. 

“There are security officers everywhere you look, at every door and every entrance and exit point. Sometimes to get out you need to pass by three or four of them before reaching the gate. I know they’re here for our own safety and I appreciate that, but this is overkill,” another resident added. 

The increased security was introduced following the disappearance of Carmelo Fino, an 83-year-old dementia sufferer who left the facility in the middle of the night on June 28. 

His decomposing body was found under a tree in Birżebbuġa, almost 8km away, on July 14. 

An inquiry, headed by Judge Geoffrey Valenzia, pinned the responsibility for Fino’s disappearance on the staff on duty that night.

Four security officers, two carers and a nurse at the St Vincent de Paul Residence – all Maltese nationals – have since been suspended on half pay upon the instructions of the Public Service Commission. Another carer, who was employed by a contractor and assigned to the care home, has been replaced by another employee.

Enhanced security at state-run care home

Almost 40 security officers had been added to the 20 who had already been working at the care home, with the administration scrambling to beef up security procedures to avoid a repeat.

The increased presence of security guards was just one of a raft of increased security at the home, with elderly residents ordered not to leave their wards, go for a walk or attend mass unless accompanied by a nurse, carer or relative.

“We’re not free to roam around and we are confined to our ward. I can only walk freely between my bed and the door to the ward. That’s all. Do you call that freedom?"

Consultants at the St Vincent de Paul Residence have since placed close to 100 residents on constant watch in a bid to avoid a repetition through the introduction of a mandatory multidisciplinary assessment of all residents. More care workers were employed to sit with these residents who were at risk just like Fino was.

How have residents reacted to the measures?

Residents have lambasted the new strict measures, saying that their privacy and freedom had been stripped away from them as they are being placed under constant watch.

Some had been given what is known as a free pass with which they can walk around the facility freely and can also leave the care home as long as they state where they are going. 

This is revised every three months. 

“We’re not free to roam around and we are confined to our ward. I can only walk freely between my bed and the door to the ward. That’s all. Do you call that freedom? 

I had more freedom at home before I came here but I couldn’t stay there any longer. That’s where I wanted to die,” another resident said. 

He said he could only go out if there was a carer or a nurse available of if one of his relatives came to see him. 

“It was so different before this case happened. I’m so sorry this case had to happen for them to do something but now we’ve gone to the other extreme,” he added. 

Sources said the home administration demanded a headcount every two hours but this was stopped in its tracks by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses which issued a directive to its members to ignore the measure as they were already overworked.

Minister: Home is 'not a prison'

Active Ageing Minister Abela on Tuesday shot down criticism of the home.

“St Vincent de Paul is not a prison, it is a facility with a lot of residents with different needs, and the management at St Vincent de Paul has made it a safer place,” Abela told Times of Malta. 

Active Ageing Minister Jo-Etienne Abela contested residents' claims. Photo: DOI/Jason Borg

Security had been increased out of necessity following Fino's disappearance, he said, and he had full confidence in the management team taking such decisions. 

“It is not in the ministry’s remit to enter into the day-to-day clinical decisions that are made by this team,” he said. “We are aware, and we encourage complaints, but it is inappropriate for us to interfere in any decisions.”

Investigation stalled

Meanwhile, sources close to the police have confirmed that the investigations into the case against the suspended employees have stalled, with the police waiting for the conclusion of the magisterial inquiry before calling in the employees for questioning. 

Neither the suspended nurse, Rhys Xuereb, or any of the suspended security officers have been called in by the police. 

The Public Service Commission has also not acted on the matter. “As per PSC regulations, any possible disciplinary action will be considered once the police investigations are concluded,” a spokesperson for the Active Ageing Ministry told Times of Malta when contacted. 

He confirmed that according to information they had, no charges had yet been filed as the magisterial inquiry was still ongoing. In the meantime, the employees remained on a “precautionary suspension”.

PN demands answers

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the Nationalist Party asked why the old people's home had been turned into a prison when the inquiry into the disappearance of Carmelo Fino had not found system failures and had not called for increased security.

It said that minister, Jo Etienne Abela, had promised to ease the measures introduced after the elderly man disappeared and had denied that the home had become a prison, even though the residents could not go anywhere without permission or escort. 

Now there were five security companies providing services at the home, and there were security guards wherever one looked. 

The PN asked who had decided on this excessive increase in security. 

It said that while the residents should be secure, their privacy, freedom and dignity needed to be respected too.