The gutsy decision recently taken on 10th June 2021 by the Broadcasting Authority (BA) in favour of a complaint (as per code 350.06) Peppi Azzopardi and myself submitted, is probably a landmark decision, as we often only associate the BA as being a watchdog on matters of a political nature. 

This time it wasn’t the case.  

This was a complaint that we put forward as citizens, speaking on behalf of the voiceless, against the imbalance, untruthful and propagandistic feature that was broadcasted on TVM on the 30th April 2021. 

This production seems to have been ‘crafted’ by the prison authorities and it showed a mendacious and deceiving depiction of what is really happening in prison. The feature tried to portray the prison as being a place where reform is happening through and through, a lie which can be corroborated with innumerable facts, as I will outline in a moment.  Well now the prison regime has realized that it takes more than a feature, or a dozen for that matter, which were all stopped to the prison’s disappointment I’m sure. 

In its ruling, the BA made it amply clear that the situation of what was happening in the Rahal il-Gdid precincts ‘was not objective’ and hence one could elicit from this outcome that the target was to portray a reality which does not exist. What is even worse is that the prison regime ill-used the national broadcaster platform. In our written submission, we delineated and listed out a number of short comings in the prison regime which are damning to how the place is being run. 

To start off, Peppi Azzopardi exposed that the place is run ‘with fear’ – quoting an inscription of the Director. The Colonel went the extra mile to frame this thinking. He even chose to hang this frame close to his office, taf inti ha nwerewru! He was made to pull this frame down and had to eat humble pie – but this was still not enough to steer the prisons to a rehabilitative philosophy.    

It is to be noted that apart from the action taken by the BA on this matter, I have repeatedly noted my grievances to the Minister responsible for the prisons and to the Prison Board Chair and both keep believing in fairies and that all is fine and dandy. 

In this regard, a number of journalists have incessantly pointed towards the shortcomings in that institution and asked to be allowed to meet prisoners, visit the place without any interruption and not as I had to do, sit and watch the Director for over two hours going off in a harangue pointing fingers to all and everyone (including the Government, for not providing enough space and taking forever to introduce tagging amongst other, the Courts for not being sensitive to what is happening in the prisons and the media for not noticing the grand things he did!) 

In our submission to the BA we listed the following concerns;

The prison is managed by an archaic, obsolete and outmoded model of fear which at its core is anything but rehabilitative. We asked the BA to refer to this article:  'It's our job to teach fear': prison notice signed by director revealed’ (https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/its-our-job-to-teach-fear-prison-notice-signed-bydirector-revealed.847893)

We have repeatedly witnessed reports in the media of mysterious deaths or attempted suicides and the explanation given is often either half-baked or none at all. We asked the BA to refer to these newspaper articles: ‘It goes (quite literally) without saying...’ (https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/comment/blogs/106358/it_goes_quite_literally_without_saying#.YJVMM8DivIU); and ‘Sack prison director, investigate Corradino jail deaths – Repubblika’ (https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/sack-prison-director-investigate-corradino-jail-deathsrepubblika.833389)

The prison is a regime and not an agency and it is far from rehabilitative. In fact, in a One TV production the head of ‘prison industry’ admits that only 70 out of an estimated 900 prisoners (c. 8-10%) at one time are being exposed to any work or skills training - watch link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf1VYGzGXDw.

There have been unverified reports that access to the library has been stopped and people have been promised to start reading courses, but this opportunity was blocked without any plausible reason (on that for another time). Not only, quoting Dr Joe Borg, a Government Consultant; ‘Malta’s recidivism rate is 66%, one of the highest rates in the world. However, what is of much more concern is that 72% of our prison population are coming from intergenerational crime families.’ (https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/comment/blogs/86340/crime_poverty_recidivism_and_restorative_justice__joseph_borg#.YJa3WYfivIU) and ‘New NGO aiming to help ease prisoners back into society’ (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-06-03/news/new-ngo-aiming-to-help-easeprisoners-back-into-society-1741520901/).

We also made an argument that the prison is a hub of violence and this is substantiated by a number of media reports. We asked the BA to refer to the following articles:  ‘Another Prisoner Has Died Inside Malta’s Corradino Correctional Facility’  (https://lovinmalta.com/news/local/another-prisoner-has-died-inside-maltas-corradinocorrectional-facility/), ‘Il-priġunier li lest jixhed dwar “terrur, biża’ u tortura” fil-ħabs jitpoġġa f’iżolament – rapport’ (https://newsbook.com.mt/il-prigunier-li-lest-jixhed-dwar-terrur-biza-u-tortura-fil-habs-jitpoggafizolament-rapport/), ‘Corradino inmate strapped to restraint chair, prison director denies’ (https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/106609/corradino_inmate_strapped_to_restraint_chair_prison_director_denies#.YJT39cDivIU3), ‘Around 50 prisoners restrained daily ‘for obvious security reasons’’ (https://newsbook.com.mt/en/around-50-prisoners-restrained-daily-for-obvious-securityreasons/) and ‘Prisoner restrained to bed at CCF’ (https://newsbook.com.mt/en/restraint-bed-recently-used-in-prison/)

The prison is being mismanaged and this is further compounded by the courageous decision handed down by the BA. The Council of Europe itself presented a report which shows a completely different angle on what is happening. In fact, two articles, ‘Malta has Europe’s steepest rise in rate of imprisonment’ (https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/malta-has-europes-steepest-rise-in-rate-ofimprisonment.863475) and ‘Malta prison suicide rate highest in Europe in year of more incarcerations’ (https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/108854/malta_prison_suicide_rate_highest_in_europe_in_year_of_more_incarcerations#.YJVN5cDivIU) substantiate all of this.

Needless to say we could go on forever and mention other factors, namely the misuse of solitary confinement, the system used for inmates to see their children and the impact this is having on the latter, the alleged coercion shown towards inmates, the intimidation shown towards journalists, the hounding that takes place towards people who the regime suspect are passing on information, the introduction of uniforms that dehumanize individuals, the overpopulation in certain divisions, the irrational moving around of people from one division to  another, the alleged lack of hygiene and bathing facilities in certain divisions and finally, probably the most worrying situation of all, the militarization of the prisons.  

Notwithstanding, victims need to be supported and treated and helped by all possible means and in fact our laws, service provision and systems take care of that, yet we risk creating even more victims by allowing inmates to come out of our system not rehabilitated. The current prison system is collapsing and like a building, that metaphorically has weak foundations, some plastering, whitewashing and sticking up some photos doesn’t make it any stronger. 

This landmark pronouncement of the BA is a victory for free speech and a triumph for the voiceless in our society.

Oh, and rest assured sinjuri, we will keep at it!   

 I will be taking a break from the regular column on The Malta Independent for a couple of months and will return in September.  Thank you to Neil Camilleri, Chief Editor and Kevin Schembri Orland, Deputy Editor, for their incessant support and patience.