Over €140 million was spent on Corradino Correctional Facility in Paola between 2010 and 2020, Minister for Home Affairs Byron Camilleri said.

The year 2020 saw the highest amount spent, with almost €24 million (€23,958,466) spent in that year alone, almost double the amount spent in 2017 (€12,371,105).

The expenditure for each year since 2010 is as follows: 2010: € 9,164,683; 2011: €9,319,903; 2012: €9,283,569; 2013: €9,666,538; 2014: €10,315,110; 2015: €11,041,235; 2016: €11,465,962; 2017: €12,371,105; 2018: €15,230,865; 2019: €18,192,462; 2020: €23,958,466.

The Minister also remarked that the total number of persons currently in the Corradino Correctional Facility is 736. Of these 320 are Maltese nationals, and 416 are of any other nationality.

He also said that it is estimated that the expenditure is €100 per day per person. 

Malta’s prison facilities have been the centre of controversy in recent months, with academics lambasting the use of solitary confinement as a punishment and with security concerns owing to a spate of prisoner deaths in the past year.