Prisons director Alexander Dalli has been hitting the headlines in recent times, and certainly not for the right reasons. His heavy-handed directorship of what should be a corrective facility has raised eyebrows, concerns and serious questions about his tenure, especially after a spate of mysterious deaths.

Dalli hails from a background in the military which may, at first, appear to be a virtue for someone who runs the prisons. He may well have instilled some much-needed discipline, but his methods are widely deemed to be excessive, particularly in light of recent stories about the existence of a “punishment chair”, which bears a disconcerting similarity in its design to an electric chair.

Dalli’s fascination for extreme discipline, coupled with that for insignia and parades, displays the profile of a colonel who believes he is running his own military republic. Someone who believes that a prison is his personal fiefdom – to the point of believing in the right to omnipotence – should not be trusted with the running of a closed institution.

Since taking over, Dalli has also restrained access to the prisons: sectors of the media and prison NGOs have repeatedly complained of this measure.

To compound claims about the lack of transparency behind prison walls, the authorities’ mishandling of yet another recent death casts another dark shadow on the director. The family of a 25-year-old inmate was not even informed of his passing in November, with his relatives and lawyers still none the wiser as to what really happened on that fateful night.

Over the last two years, 11 inmates have died in prison. In most cases, scant details were given to the media. The body count in itself paints a damning picture of Dalli’s gestation; the rate of deaths within the walls of Corradino clearly indicates that something is wrong.

All this is covered in a veil of secrecy which can only lead to more speculation.

Dalli had also recently boasted that he had stamped drugs out of the prisons. Therefore, if they were not drug overdoses, one can only wonder as to the cause of those 11 deaths.

The director’s claims, however, have been denied in parliament by former Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia, who in 2019 told the House that there were at least 14 drug finds at Corradino that year. Dalli can no longer use the “drug card” to justify his abuse of power.

Is the minister ready to defend episodes of police or army brutality?

Minister Byron Camilleri stood by his soldier, even after the shocking revelations about the punishment chair. But Camilleri’s defence of Dalli is also worrying on another front: is the minister ready to defend episodes of police or army brutality? In this sense, the cold-blooded murder of Lassana Cisse is a stark reminder of the need to reform and discipline the corps themselves.

Dalli should be replaced by someone qualified to run the prisons in a disciplined yet humane manner and controlled access to the prisons for NGOs and media should be resumed immediately.

Furthermore, the culture of jailing persons with problematic substance use needs to change. These people require holistic therapy and reintegration, not being locked up in a place of fear where rules are determined by a director with militaristic infatuations. A prison term under these circumstances will definitely not reform, if not exacerbate, the problems they already face.

The minister spoke of methods of “restraint” of “dangerous” prisoners. It is becoming increasingly apparent that it is the prison director himself, and his authoritarian methods, that need to be restrained.