Many wrongly interpret the biblical quote ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ as some God-given right to avenge oneself. In fact, it is meant to ensure that, if there is to be punishment, it is equal to the offence.
After life itself, one’s liberty must be a human being’s second most-cherished fundamental right.
Therefore, sentencing a person to jail constitutes adequate punishment. This means a caring society should be happy with a facility which excels in rehabilitation rather than retribution
Sadly, the news emerging from Corradino Correctional Facility paints a worrying picture of an institution correctional only in name and which falls far short from respecting inmates’ dignity as human beings.
Claims of systematic terror, fear, solitary confinement, denial of visitation rights, barring of any communication with the outside world and even of a ‘torture chair’ surfaced over the past months.
Over the past three years, 12 inmates died mysteriously, including by suicide.
Only last week, a 30-year-old prisoner was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after an attempted suicide.
The man who found him in that critical state spoke out in one of the most revealing and shocking interviews of the year in The Sunday Times of Malta. It could not have been easy for him.
Since Alexander Dalli, who has military background, took over as prison director the situation got worse and it now appears it is even worrying the authorities.
This emerges from a statement issued by the Home Affairs Ministry announcing the setting up of a board of inquiry to evaluate the Corrective Services Agency’s internal procedures.
“Over the past weeks, the… ministry was in continuous contact with statutory boards and professionals serving at Corradino Correctional Facility with the aim of setting up the board in question,” the statement said.
Just over four hours after the prisoner was found in his cell with clear signs he had tried to take his own life, Minister Byron Camilleri decided to appoint an inquiry “with immediate effect”. This after sitting on the problem for weeks, as his own ministry admitted.
The composition of the board and its terms of reference was announced last Monday morning, meaning weeks-long ‘contacts’ were suddenly successfully concluded in less than 24 hours after the suicide attempt.
The minister nominated on the inquiry board an outgoing member of the prison governance board. This member shamelessly resigned from the board of governance not to assume responsibility for the atrocities at Corradino but to sit on the inquiry board.
By law, the governance board is entrusted to oversee the implementation of national legislation and policy concerning correctional services as well as the policy and strategy for the running of correctional services.
This is, therefore, a clear conflict of interest.
Dalli’s heavy-handedness did not help but, truth be told, the prison system has been deteriorating for years with different administrations only doing patch-up work in a piecemeal fashion.
The scope of the inquiry should be widened to take a much broader view of what needs to be done to reform prison.
Only a thorough overhaul would do, including the physical infrastructure, administration, manning, training and equipment.
At the heart of this reform should be a clear vision of what the country wants its prison to look like. Retaining the punitive element and striving to turn offenders into good neighbours should not be mutually exclusive.
It is essential for the authorities to build a system where prisoners are indeed rehabilitated and given the chance to reintegrate into society. The current system only serves to humiliate them and often turn them into hardened criminals.