WATCH: Alex Dalli To Step Down From Prison Director As Minister Announces Inquiry Findings
Alex Dalli will no longer be leading the Corradino Correctional Facility, with acting director Robert Brincau expected to be permanently appointed to the role in the coming days, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said this morning.
The revelation came this morning as the minister addressed a press conference following the inquiry’s conclusion.
Camilleri said the inquiry had made 32 recommendations, the majority of which he agreed with. He said that all the recommendations would be implemented by the government, though he said little about what observations had led the board to those recommendations.
The inquiry was launched after inmate Colin Galea attempted suicide while at the faciliy. He died in hospital eight days later. Since then, there have been two more prison deaths, with director Alex Dalli temporarily suspending himself until the inquiry’s conclusions.
Human rights activists have called for the minister’s resignation over his defence of Dalli, who has been accused of inhumane practices.
During his press conference, the minister made no mention of Dalli, or indeed the several accusations levelled against him, only addressing the elephant in the room once asked by journalists.
On Dalli, he said it was clear that the situation at the prison had improved, but said he understood the need for more transparency.
He said over the coming days Robert Brincau would be permanently appointed as prison director. Dalli, he said, would be redeployed to another role.
Camilleri would not elaborate on why Dalli would be asked to step down and whether the inquiry had identified any wrongdoing on his part.
Inquiry makes 32 recommendations
The inquiry, he said, emphasised the need to separate, for example, prisoners that had already been sentenced and those under preventive custody.
More transparent disciplinary procedures, the establishment of an independent entity to assess inmates’ care as well as a number of other measures.
A number of measures, he said, would be starting today, with a commissioner for inmates’ well being appointed today through a legal notice. Representatives of the commissioner will be present in prison to evaluate inmates’ wellbeing and will be tasked with making recommendations to the minister and the prison’s administration.
Another recommendation that was taken on board, he said, was that of creating an ombudsman for Malta’s prisons. The government, he said, had decided to go a step further.
“The inquiry says loud and clear that there needs to be more checks and balances and I fully agree. The prison monitoring board will have increased powers, including the powers to decide,” Camilleri said, adding that the monitoring board’s decisions would be final.
The minister also said that work had started on a 140-person rehabilitation centre within the prison facility that focuses on care and specific forms of rehabilitation, as well as a family room outside the prison confines, for inmates to be able to spend time with their young children.
Camilleri said a few days ago the NAO had issued findings on the facility and the manner in which it was run. The NAO’s analysis, he said, had looked into the prison’s operations today when compared to how it was run in the past.
He highlighted how many stakeholders had described there being a sense of order and increased sense of security at the prison at present.
Moreover, he said that the general sense of order observed was evident and an “essential part of the foundation unto which rehabilitation initiatives can be based”.
He said when discussing the prison, it was essential to understand the point of departure, where matters stood currently, as well as what the country wanted for the prison going forward.
Camilleri referred to a court sentence against inmate Josette Bickle who was found guilty of drug trafficking in prison. The 2011 sentence noted that it was clear that the system had failed and that Bickle was allowed to operate with impunity. There were even suggestions of collusion with prison officials, Camilleri said, insisting that he would not take criticism from the Opposition, given its track record with the country’s correctional services.
He ran through a list of improvements that were implemented in recent years, including the fact that prison was now “drugs free”.
Camilleri said he had ordered an inquiry in August because the government wanted to determine how the situation could be improved, stressing however that re-establishing order at the facility was the necessary first step.
The board of inquiry was tasked with looking into the prison’s procedures when assessing inmates’ mental and physical health upon admission; the procedures in place to assess prisoners’ wellbeing, procedures implemented when a prisoner is returned to the prison from Mount Carmel Hospital, rehabilitation and support procedures and suicide prevention measures at the facility.
The board was originally given two months to complete the inquiry but was given a two-month extension back in October at the board’s request.
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