Former Chief Justice to stay at Mount Carmel until his condition stabilises
Former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo was sent to Mount Carmel Hospital by the doctor at the Corradino Correctional Facility yesterday after he was found to be suffering from a number of conditions.
The acting director of prison said in a statement that the senior houseman on duty at Mount Carmel confirmed the situation and ordered that Dr Arrigo should be kept under constant medical attention.
For this reason, he was temporarily being kept at Mount Carmel’s forensic section until he was certified to be in a stable condition by the hospital’s doctors.
The acting director said that Dr Arrigo was transported in a rented eight-seater van from the Courts to Corradino because one of the the facility’s vans was garaged for repairs.
The van was rented last Wednesday and it has carried about 40 prisoners.
The acting director noted that in previous occasion, Dr Arrigo had always been carried in the facility’s vans.
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Anthony Farrugia
Nov 29th 2009, 20:57
Absolutely spot-on editorial which expresses the thoughts and feelings of all decent Maltese.
Now it appears that our disgraced ex Chief Justice will be appealing last week'sentence in the hope of getting away with some loophole or cavil in the law. It seems that all his remaining friends(if any !) have rallied round and are calling him "miskien" (poor guy) when the "msieken" are those drug addicts and their families victims of the convicted drug trafficker who bribed him .
Now can any Times reporter ask the Minister of Justice or the Director of the Corradino Correctional Facilty on how many inmates are suffering from depression and other medical conditions but are still held at Corradino and can he publish a list of Corradino inmates held at Mount Carmel Mental Hospital. If and when this list is published the public will be surprised and outraged at some of the names on this list. All in the name of trasperency and freedom of information.
Gervais Marcel Cishahayo
Nov 28th 2009, 13:25
Well said Kevin C Zammit RE Let the one without sin cast the first stone !
No one is perfect... Only God is. We all commit mistakes, some get caught and have to pay for them while many others do the same but never get caught and therefore never pay for the mistakes committed.
Let the man and his family carry his cross in peace... Lets not indulge in being judges ourselves for even Barabas earned his entry ticket to heaven at the last minute while on the cross next to Jesus... We are all sinners... and whether in public or in private we all have our own crosses to carry...
Joseph Vassallo
Nov 27th 2009, 23:20
Rhetoric?
Aren't you all invoking God's name in vain? Jesus said "Give unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar". This being civil rather than religious, kindly leave God out of it and deal with it in a mundane manner. Is God even interested in where the erring judge is accommodated.
Society deems it necessary to punish the accused and that must be respected. Once the sentence is served, his debt will have been paid. So why pontificate because it "appears" the judge is being given better surroundings than ordinary criminals? And what about his intention to appeal? Some prisoners are sent home pending their appeal, are they not?
You may not agree but the most serious punishment and loss being suffered in this case is the loss of credibility and personal reputation i.e., his honour. Probably nobody understands that better than the learned ex-judge himself.
Society cannot distinguish between "sorrow for commission" and "sorrow for being discovered".
Finally, if the man needs medical care, let him be given it wherever the prison physician/s decide. That would be humane rather than christian.
That's 'FOUR pence worth' I've contributed now.
W Spencer
Nov 27th 2009, 22:59
@ Joseph Vassallo
When ' Hotel Corradino ' was a Military Prison, it was harsh, hard, and a place where no one wanted to return to.......... as prisons should be. !!
Anthony Farrugia
Nov 27th 2009, 22:17
Some previous commentators are stating that now that the former Chief Justice has been sentenced, we should desist from any further comments as if the whole affair can be that quickly put aside and forgotten.
The whole affair is not over, by a long chalk, as it appears that he would be lodging an appeal as is his legal right. So this saga is sent to continue for quite some time (say years) to come.
A. Mallia
Nov 27th 2009, 22:08
One wonders whether his "condition" will take 2 years and 9 months to "stabilise".
Alfred Cassar
Nov 27th 2009, 21:56
I very much doubt whether some of the comments below are coming from true Christians.
We pretend we are good Christians just because we defend our 'feasts' or because we want to retain the Cross in the classrooms. But then we do not act as Christians at all when we comment on one another.
I think the former Chief Judge made a very big mistake and he had to face justice, but I am convinced that he is really sorry for what he's done. Let's nor forget that Jesus himself on the Cross showed us how forgiveness should be. "Let those without a sin throw the first stone"
Kevin C Zammit
Nov 27th 2009, 21:43
Let the one without sin cast the first stone !
Are we all Christians here ? Is this the religion we practice. Let the chap live - whether at Corradino, Mount Carmel or Mater Dei. I am sure Mr Arrigo is getting his punishment. Whatever he did he still deserves to have the dignity of a human being. So please quit posting silly comments as if all of you can run the country or the judicial system. We are all human beings and as long as we are not Gods, we are prone to committing mistakes. The problem is that some of us commit mistakes and get caught, therefore have to pay for them. While many others do the same but never get caught and therefore do not pay for the mistakes committed. Only God knows !
May God be with him and with all his family and may God illuminate us all to be in the good.
Franco Farrugia
Nov 27th 2009, 21:34
Iz-zmien, jaghtina parir! Pity is that you won't be around in Malta to see it.
Joseph Vassallo
Nov 27th 2009, 21:25
With 'Hotel Corradino' and other correctional facilities heavily 'over-booked', there has to be somewhere else for new customers to be accomodated.
This erstwhile honourable judge must also be protected from physical harm that might befall him through being in the same compound as violent prisoners whom he himself may have sentenced to incarceration. That, I believe is a statutory requirement.
Going on a tangent, I am also wondering what other people might have done had they been offered a sum of money to do something that they were going to do anyway.
So... should he get special treatment? My answer is "No".
And... Should all appropriate measures be taken to guarantee his safety while serving his sentence? My answer is "Yes".
Need his family be castigated or feel betterly ashamed of all this? "No".
Why? Because they did not do anything wrong and are totally separate and autonomous individuals.
That's my tuppence worth.
J Martinelli
Nov 27th 2009, 19:48
@ Maria Caruana
If you find a shred of evidence of me condoning what the former Chief Justice did, then it will give you the right of accusing my comments of being 'always, always against the grain'. But you will not because whether in Canada or Malta, justice must be done and appears to be done. I do not know you and I do not know whether you are a medical doctor or psychiatrist but if in the negative, I will tell you that you have no diagnostic powers and have even less reason to comment on the reason why Noel Arrigo has been transferred to Mount Carmel.
The issue is a bit of compassion and smart a** remarks will not help alleviate the disappointment the public feels towards a person who normally is of unquestionable integrity. Thank heavens that a problem seems to have been nipped in the bud and this incident should make it quite clear to individuals who hold positions of trust to be extra careful of their actions.
It is so easy to jump to conclusions, but sometimes haste backfires and predictions that Dr. Arrigo will spend his sentence at Mount Carmel are presumptuous.
Charles Meli
Nov 27th 2009, 19:24
According to TVM news, an office pertaining to the Manager at Mount Carmel was recently converted to a cell and apparently this is where the former Chief Justice is being kept. This gives the impression that things had been planned beforehand the sentence was given !!!
Marius Zulgis
Nov 27th 2009, 18:53
No matter who this man is he is ill and deserves compassion not condemnation. Bloggers ought to excercise a little more decorum before commenting - I am sure that should you be in a similar position one fine day you would appreciate a little kindness. We are all human after all.
Franco Farrugia
Nov 27th 2009, 18:47
@ Martinelli: Where were you and your 'compassion' when a former judge was put in prison? Where were you and your 'compassion' when a former Police Commissioner suffered the same faith, and rightly so, too? Talk about double standards.
Franco Farrugia
Nov 27th 2009, 18:44
@ Maria Caruana - The answer to your question is simple enough: Martinelli is in favour of the status-quo. He is in favour of all that comes from this administration, and he would hate anything that goes counter to the establishment. He is in far-flung Canada and he makes up a PN-club all by himself.
Michael Muscat
Nov 27th 2009, 18:36
@ L Buhagiar
you've hit the nail on the head!
Joseph Schembri
Nov 27th 2009, 18:23
I don't begrudge the fact that the judge is being treated in a more humane way. I wish that all prisoners were treated with such due consideration.
Justice and solidarity lies not in reducing everyone to the least common denominator but doing everything in our power to treat everyone with the dignity that all beings ( I include all creation here) deserve.
Franco Farrugia - you often write about animal rights but do you refrain from eating mammals as I do? For me imprisoning a cow or a pig (an animal with the intelligence of a dog) for all their life and then killing them is as bad as doing the same thing to a dog or a cat. Likewise I see no difference between any human whatever their perceived wrongdoing might have been. If you think that this man is being treated better then please campaign so that all prisoners are treated better.
R Azzopardi
Nov 27th 2009, 18:17
I do not know Dr. Noel Arrigo personally or any of his family members. But please let him and his family live in peace! Irrelevant where he stays, he has no freedom, which is so important. I can imagine the trauma that his family is going through, so let's be true Christians and pray for them>
Charles Micallef
Nov 27th 2009, 17:39
This dark episode in our Judiciary's history is now over,
and we should now spare a thought for the families of
those convicted as we should do with all other inmates families!
Alfred Bugeja
Nov 27th 2009, 17:30
Everyone seems to be excluding the possibility that the former Chief Justice is really suffering from a number of medical and psychiatric conditions. We already know that he suffers from a heart condition.
The fact that this seems to have been the opinion of two different doctors would make me think twice about jumping to conclusions and keep firmly in mind that as far as I know, this man has been sentenced to jail, not death.
The state has a duty to make sure to keep him alive and afford any treatment that any citizen on this country - corrupt as he may be - has every right to.
Jesmond Micallef
Nov 27th 2009, 17:25
Dr. Noel Arigo,
As a human being who knows how to show compassion and understanding, don't give up, you have faced justice as known to man but not to God. I have written letters to God when I was confused and couldn't understand. I posted my letters to God in my Bible, I still treasure them to this day. May the Love of God be with you and your family. You are a good man at heart becuase you know your conscience. Don't give up.
Jesmond Micallef
Miguel Micallef
Nov 27th 2009, 17:23
I'm quite convinced that most of the people who go in jail are suffering from 'a number of conditions' especially in the moment they arrive.
Are they all treated this way?
david calleja
Nov 27th 2009, 17:13
@Maria Caruana - agreed totally. This is not a question of getting a pound of flesh - aside from all the other ramifications of his actions, there should not, in any way, be any discrimination between him and any other common citizen.
@ Dear J.Martinelli - I, for one, am heartily sick and tired of the blatent discrimination that seems to be the byword in Malta - the ordinary, ''common'' person simply does NOT enjoy the same treatment as some others - this ranges from pensions to perks - and from Jobs to Justice... stop telling us to fel sorry for people who encourage this situation...we're honestly sick of it - period.
J.Camilleri
Nov 27th 2009, 16:54
The statue of justice in our court is blindfolded. Isn't it time that at least one eye is uncovered?
Maria Caruana
Nov 27th 2009, 16:44
@J. Martinelli
Why do your comments always, always, so nauseatingly go against the grain. Is that how they discriminate between citizens of different social status in Canada? If such special treatment as afforded the ex Chief Justice is not also afforded in similar circumstances to the most common of citizens, than something is pitifully wrong in this fair isle.
M.Bezzina
Nov 27th 2009, 16:28
@Franco Farrugia
It will take more or less 2yrs 9months to settle!!
Paul Bonello
Nov 27th 2009, 16:26
Go tell it to the marines!! Indeed very convincing!!
L Buhagiar
Nov 27th 2009, 16:25
All animals are equal but some are more equal than others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
George Orwell was a true genius.
adrian agius
Nov 27th 2009, 16:11
and i have a feeling that he won't stay 1 single day at corradino !!!
Joe Camilleri
Nov 27th 2009, 16:02
Could the Director of Prisons please elucidate exactly what conditions, that could not have been treated at Mater Dei, was Noel suffering from.
Would the senior houseman have consulted with specialists in the particular fields before deciding whether to send him either to Mater Dei or Mount Carmel.
And on the same lines could the Director confirm whether A.Grech Sant and Godfrey Ellul are also being treated at Mount Carmel and if in the affermative, since when and for how long does he anticipate they will be there.
J Martinelli
Nov 27th 2009, 15:59
@ Franco Farrugia
The man is being deprived of the liberty of enjoying his family and his freedom of movement whether he is kept in jail or in a hospital. Justice was served and he is paying the price for a grave mistake he committed.
But surely, deep in your heart you must have a bit of compassion, although by your tongue-in-cheek comment, one wonders!
Franco Farrugia
Nov 27th 2009, 15:43
Why do I get the feeling that 'his condition' will take some time in stabilising?