So, we do nothing about it?

The Bickle case last week blew wide open a very unpleasant Pandora’s Box. Most of the public would have read with disbelief how a 42-year-old woman ran a rampant drug trade in prison between 2006 and 2008, as well as bullying and humiliating other inmates.

It comes as no surprise that drugs form such an integral part of prison life for inmates. However, the shocking factor in this case is how Josette Bickle was able to go about her business so blatantly. Mr Justice Michael Mallia, who sentenced her to 12 years’ imprisonment for trafficking heroin in jail, went one step further than merely displaying alarm.

The judge said: “The ease with which drugs used to enter (Ms Bickle’s) division and come into her possession cannot but indicate collusion with the authorities.” He added that clearly she could not have acted alone.

This is not the first time it has been stated that an inmate has received preferential treatment, nor that drugs have circulated in prison. The accusation was also made during the tenure of the former prisons director. To boot, a warder was jailed in 2005 after being found guilty of trafficking drugs.

Against this background, it is not acceptable for Tonio Borg, who led the Home Affairs Ministry prior to 2008, to simply brush off the matter by saying his ministry was not aware of abuses in the women’s section.

The ministry was certainly aware that drugs were an issue at Corradino. And it had an obligation to investigate the state of affairs throughout the prison and take steps to regulate that position in a meaningful manner.

No enforcement system can be perfect in a prison full of criminals. But the removal of the prisons director, which took place five months after Dr Borg had left the ministry, was little more than a cosmetic exercise at best and an attempt to brush the issue under the carpet at worst. The damage had already been done and, for all we know, continues to be done.

In a brave and highly praiseworthy judgment, Mr Justice Mallia made another important point when he talked about the failed prison system which “has nothing correctional about it, but is rather serving the opposite function where people who are relatively clean are at great risk of coming out of prison worse than they went in”.

Two issues are pertinent here: one relates to the methods and practices at the institution known as the Corradino Correctional Facility. The second is connected with the failed drugs policy adopted by successive governments.

As we have pointed out before, drugs ruin lives; even drugs as seemingly innocuous as cannabis, which has been proven to cause psychological problems. However, Malta’s approach, which has been to jail even young people whose lives are subsequently ruined because they have smoked pot, is draconian and self-defeating.

While decriminalising the drug may not be the solution – ultimately there is no ideal solution, just like there is no realistic solution to alcohol abuse or dying of smoking-related cancer – a wholesale change in approach is necessary.

It is a sad fact that our political parties are failing us on this issue. The so-called progressive Labour Party takes the regressive stance of saying nothing more than ‘decriminalisation is wrong’ (it will change its mind if opinion polls tell it to do so) while the Nationalist Party has been largely responsible for the mess regarding drugs we find ourselves in today.

We can pretend that harsh laws solve the problem. Or we can wake up to the reality that harsh laws are actually creating bigger social problems and that another approach is needed. But for that we need politicians with fibre whose actions go beyond political convenience.