PN Youth Hold Silent Protest Outside Paola Prison After Suicide Deaths
The youth wing of the Nationalist Party held a silent protest outside Corradino Correctional Facility to mark two suicides that occurred inside the institution over the last few months.
Saying prison should be a place of “reformation and not revenge”, they expressed serious concerns over the way prison was being run, and whether it led to these two suicide attempts.
“Urgent reforms are needed so prison no longer remains a vengeful place for prisoners but becomes one of reformation and recovery. Cases like this should never happen again in this country,” they said.
“Prison is a place where an individual can regain their dignity and self-respect, and not end up in a state where he takes his own life. This situation is unacceptable.”
Their protest comes as activists and academics released 100 new recommendations for prison reform, including giving prisoners voting rights and changing the ethos that runs the institution.
This is not the only protest over the recent suicides – another separate “non-political” protest organised by a number of civilians is set to occur outside Parliament in Valletta this Sunday at 5pm.
“This is a protest against the way the prison director is running prison. A protest against cruelty. A protest against the philosophy of fear that rules inside prison,” organisers said.
Malta’s prison, which homed 725 inmates by end of 2020, is homed in a building built by British colonial authorities in 1842.
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