The Corradino prison should demolished, and a new, modern facility should be built. New leadership should be put in place. All forms of torture should stop and life sentencing should be abolished.

These are just a few of a hundred proposals for a better prison system put forward by Professor Andrew Azzopardi, in consultation with presenter and prison critic Peppi Azzopardi.

The proposals come after another prisoner – Colin Galea – died days after a suicide attempt. He was the thirteenth prisoner to die in the past three years. An inquiry is underway, but the prison director, Colonel Alexander Dalli, a former army man who prides himself as being strict disciplinarian, is facing mounting pressure to step down.

Professor Azzopardi says the prison should be demilitarised and run by a Director General appointed by a two-thirds Parliamentary majority. The DGs should be appointed for three-year terms, with the contracts confirmed every year.

There should be two directorates – one for corporate care and one for security – falling under the DG. None of the existing managers should be appointed to these posts since the prison leadership is currently under investigation. 

Transfer of responsibility

The time has come for the prison to be transferred under the responsibility of the Social Policy Ministry, Azzopardi says. This ministry has the resources required for rehabilitation and to bring down the recidivism rate, which currently stands at a staggering 70%.

The forensic, youth and drug rehabilitation sections should be detached from CCF and run as public-private partnerships with NGOs and be self-governing.

A Prison Ombudsman should be appointed. The office would be tasked with analysing complaints, investigating allegations of abuses and prison deaths, look into suicides and attempted suicides and listen to relatives of inmates. The Ombudsman should also be appointed by a two-thirds majority and the office should fall under Parliament’s oversight. 

No more solitary confinement

The ‘inhumane’ and ‘institutionalised torture’ system of solitary confinement should be outlawed.  Any form of torture should stop, including the so-called ‘punishment chair and bed.’ Officers should be trained on how to restrain inmates without the use of force or weapons. 

Efforts should be made to reduce the prison population, including through increased electronic tagging, more justified preventive arrest, more efficient case-clearance by the courts, strengthening of the concept of restorative justice, better probation service and more frequent use of parole.

There should be more genuine work with victims of crime. 

Prison visits

Azzopardi also proposed more frequent prison visits, the re-introduction of conjugal visits, more adequate places where inmates can meet their children and an increased allowance of phone calls.

NGOs should be given greater access to the prison, and the media should also be granted access, within the parameters of security. A crime conference should be held every time an incident takes place at the prison.

The current prison should be closed and replaced by a modern building. Cells should be more spacious, have views and good air circulation. Only the old part should remain as a museum. The rest should be turned into a public recreational area.

All prisoners should have a TV, radio, mini-fridge, electronic games and internet at their disposal. It is unfair that some have all of the above, while others have none.

Mental health cases should be transferred to hospital. The age of criminal responsibility should be raised to 18.

Prison uniforms should be done away with. 

‘Inquiry of inquiries’

There should be an ‘inquiry of inquiries’ to make up for inquiries that never took place or others that were allegedly tampered with.

Members of the prison leadership and board should be asked to step down and submit themselves to this inquiry.

The behaviour of the current prison director should be directly investigated. Protocols on personality testing should be introduced to establish whether Dalli has the required skills, emotive intelligence, and empathic capacity. If not, this is even more reason why he should step down. There should also be adequate external supervision.

Until a new director is found, the prison leadership should fall under the responsibility of the permanent secretary and a standing committee made up of five experts. 

Therapy, not torture

On mental health, Azzopardi says one should assume that all prisoners are a suicide risk. The mental care team should be based outside of the prison to avoid a situation of familiarity or where they are pressured to talk about their sessions with the inmates.

The culture of anti-depressants should be replaced by therapy talk.

Life sentences should be abolished.

People over a certain age or who suffer from chronic conditions should be released.

The government should take it upon itself to find employment for all inmates who complete their sentence. 

Other proposals

Other proposals include better training for prison warders, and giving the police access to prison CCTV footage.

There should be an overhaul of “disgusting” prison food.

Strip searches should stop and only the X-ray machine should be used.

There should be air conditioning all throughout the prison.

The prisoners’ benefit should be increased, and prison education should be improved.

There should be a system that encourages ‘fostering’ of inmates who have no family.

The loyalty of board members should lie with the prisoners’ cause, their families, the civtims and society, and not with the minister or a political party.