An ‘inhumane cage’ attached to a Corradino prison cell was removed ahead of a crucial prison inspection by the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee.
The ‘cage’ had been constructed at the entrance to a stone cell in Division 5 during the tenure of former prison director Alex Dalli.
When the inmate was let out of the cell, he would find himself in the ‘cage’, unable to roam freely in the division like the other prisoners or mingle with them.
It was dismantled in September ahead of a visit by members of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), who are currently in Malta to inspect the treatment of detained people. The delegation spent most of last week in Malta’s prison.
However, senior prison sources said the removal of the ‘cage’ had nothing to do with the visit and was part of ongoing infrastructural improvements that started eight months ago. The improvements include the implementation of recommendations from the committee’s previous visit in 2015.
Sources told Times of Malta the members of the committee landed in Malta two weeks after prison authorities removed what they described as “an appalling and inhumane cage”.
They said the cell was home to Daniel Muka during a time when there were suspicions that he might be planning an escape and when other inmates and guards feared he was “especially dangerous”.
Muka, an Albanian national, has been charged with the murder of Christian Pandolfino and Ivor Maciejowski, who were shot dead inside their Sliema home in 2020. He is awaiting trial for the double murder.
Muka was already a suspect in an audacious 2017 jewellery heist and the attempted murder of two policemen. Back then, he allegedly tried to shoot the officers during his arrest.
The sources said that, with the ‘cage’ arrangement, Muka could be let out of his cell like the other prisoners as required by humane treatment regulations but still be detained, a practice which, according to the sources, breached human rights of detained people.
Ali Rezaq kept in a similar cage, not the same one
One source said they only remember one other prisoner who was given this treatment at Corradino – EgyptAir hijacker Mohammed Ali Rezaq, the terrorist who carried out the shootings in the horrific attack that unfolded dramatically at Luqa airport in 1985.
Ali Rezaq spent seven years in Malta’s prison after being found guilty of the hijack murders. He was released in 1993.
“It wasn’t the same cage, of course, but it was a similar arrangement,” one source said.
The sources said that, after Dalli was ousted as prison director in 2021, the cell was never used again but the ‘cage’ remained in place, only to be removed last month.
However, senior sources said the removal of the ‘cage’ was just one of many other actions prison authorities took over the past months.
Among other actions, the sources said, prison authorities completely shut down Division 19, which was in no condition to house inmates humanely and temporarily closed Division 8 to have it completely refurbished.
Authorities also increased shading and seating areas in the prison’s open spaces and upgraded visitors’ rooms to allow inmates to sit closer to relatives and those who visit them.
Last week, members of the Council of Europe committee had an all-access pass to prison and their inspection was rigorous, sources said.
The inspection went “pleasantly well” and the committee members appeared to be positive about “improvements” in inmates’ conditions. However, they will likely still highlight the need for much more improvement in their final report, they added.
The committee will now draft and publish a report on its visit and set out new recommendations for the improvement of treatment of detained people.