A prisoner who was let out of prison despite being refused bail by a court was released as a result of an administrative error, an inquiry has found.
The Home Affairs Ministry launched an inquiry in August after it emerged that the man, who had been denied bail after threatening his wife, showed up for a court sitting unescorted.
The inquiry, led by Judge Emeritus Joseph Azzopardi, found that the prison keeps records of every admission, rather than on every prisoner. The man in question had recently been released after serving a sentence for an unrelated case. He was then arraigned again and was denied bail.
In what was described as an “unfortunate” mistake by CCF officials, the prison authorities looked at the admission file related to the previous judgment, rather then the new case, and the man was released.
The inquiry board suggested that the prison retains a file for everu onmate and if that same inmate has other cases pending for which he should be still under arrest these would result immediately and thus similar mistakes are not repeated. It also suggested that an additional admission ticket is sent electronically by the court deputy registrar assigned to the magistrate before whom the case is being heard.