H arrived in Malta in September 2002, the eldest son of one of a group of five families, numbering 36 in all, with children aged from three to 18. Asked what daily life was like in the Hal Safi detention centre, H describes it as a “feeling of sadness” and of “being in a prison”.

The detainees were housed in old airport hangars: semi-cylindrical barn-like structures made of corrugated iron. Each individual had his or her own bed, but inmates were left to their own devices to improvise their own living quarters. H’s family used sheets, bits of broken furniture and anything they could lay their hands on to create some kind of partition for the purposes of privacy.

Regarding facilities, these were, to say the least, limited. There was no heating in winter, or any form of cooling in summer. According to H, the hangar walls in summer became so hot that you couldn’t touch or stand too close to them. In winter, on the other hand, it would turn very cold, especially at night. To make matters worse, rainwater would seep in, sometimes causing floods.

Regarding hygiene, H described the place as “dirty”. At the beginning, he added, there were three toilets for men and three for women. These were to be shared by all of the detainees, who at times numbered over 200. The original toilets were portable ones made of plastic. Eventually, these were replaced by permanent toilets.

As for food, H explains how detainees were fed three meals a day. Breakfast consisted of three or four slices of bread with some butter and jam. Lunch came in the form of a plate of pasta or rice. For supper, some boiled chicken with chips. In both quantity and quality H feels the food was substandard, especially considering the needs of a family with small children.

His mother was pregnant at the time, and he remembers how she had stopped eating altogether, creating much concern for the health of the unborn child (The child was eventually born in good health).

Asked how they were treated by the supervisors and management, H claims that none of his family or anyone he knew was actively mistreated by any of the guards. Some were more pleasant than others, he said, but generally their behaviour and attitude towards the inmates was acceptable.

However, the overcrowding of the centre gave rise to serious problems, especially among inmates of different nationalities. H describes how fights would break out regularly, sometimes even every day, with consequences that were often serious.

Asked how serious, H loosely refers to injuries such as “broken arms and legs”. On these occasions, he added, the guards were often powerless to intervene, and would instead allow the fight to take its course before attempting to restore order. It was only when there were “big fights” involving numerous inmates, that the soldiers would get physically involved.

The effect of all this on family life was traumatic. H’s sister, who was in her early teens at the time, was so terrified by the ordeal that she literally spent the entire time at the detention centre confined to her own bed.

This gave rise to physical complications, including bedsores, and after a while her application for medical attention was accepted. She was taken to a polyclinic and, like all other detainees, was made to wear handcuffs for the duration of the trip.

After the family’s eventual release from detention, she spent three months convalescing in hospital. To this day, H claims that she suffers from problems walking and requires medical attention at least once a week.