Prison authorities have stopped all contact between inmates and the prison warden who came under fire last week for his biography on Adolf Hitler.
The Corradino Correctional Facility told Times of Malta on Monday that Ronald Bugeja's contact with inmates was already limited because he was responsible for infrastructural projects in prison, but the prison administration nonetheless stopped his contact with inmates as a preventive measure.
"The Correctional Services Agency is unequivocally against any views that portray a racist or far-right ideology," a spokesperson for prison said.
"The Agency strives to work towards a rehabilitated environment that goes beyond ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexuality."
She said Bugeja's views are his own and he was in no way representing or reflecting the views of the agency.
The controversy broke out last week when it emerged that Bugeja was recently on the TVM programme Ħajjitna Ktieb, presented by John Demanuele, in which he defended Hitler and said he was motivated to write the book because he claims that most people are “never educated” about the details of his life.
Bugeja claimed that Hitler had no knowledge of “atrocities” carried out during World War 2 and that his subordinate commanders went “above and beyond his orders”.
He also said that when he became chancellor, Hitler managed to expel all Jews from Germany without having to kill a single person and that the Jews and the Communists had "broken" Germany.
Controversy ensued, with the national broadcaster calling the comments "unacceptable" and opening an investigation into how the programme was allowed to be produced and go on air. The Broadcasting Authority also said it would be investigating.
The National Book Council distanced itself from the book and PEN Malta said it was “shocked and disgusted” at the national broadcaster for “serving as a pulpit for Nazi ideas” when it promoted the book.
Programme presenter John Demanuele later apologised.
A police report was also filed against the author and the German ambassador to Malta condemned any attempts to belittle the Nazi leader’s crimes as being “erroneous to the extreme”.