Labour Home Affairs spokesman Michael Falzon has called for an investigation into the way items are purchased at the Corradino Correctional Facility, claiming there was “blatant abuse”.

He said there was no purchasing structure in place and neither a policy on the way goods are bought.

No calls for tenders were issued and, in most cases, not even a request for quotations.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Falzon mentioned a case of an employee of the prisons’ accounts department who buys goods from a shop “with which he has close ties” and “issues payments in his name”.

He refused to name the person and also refused to elaborate on the close ties.

“I am not an investigative body. I am certain of what I’m saying because I carried my own investigation. Now it’s up to the departments concerned to do their job.”

Dr Falzon said there was also a case where a prison employee received a fine while using an official car and rather than paying it himself, as is usually the case, the fine was paid by taxpayers and simply passed off as vehicle maintenance.

He also spoke about the problem of drug abuse in prison especially in Divisions 12 and 13 where drugs, he claimed, were readily available.

Asked how a Labour government would solve the drug problem in prison, Dr Falzon said one of its proposals was the introduction of sniffer dogs at the entrance.

He said that Division 6, which was meant to be the maximum security section, was even housing prisoners for minor cases.

Dr Falzon said the prisons were still riddled with severe staff shortages. In one division there were just two warders for 50 prisoners.

He raised doubts about the recruitment process for 30 to 40 prison warders and asked why the process was handled by a selection board without the involvement of the Director of Prisons.

Dr Falzon also lamented that the reformative aspect of the prison was not being given enough importance – a third of prisoners were relapsers.

Furthermore, although parole legislation was approved by Parliament months ago, it was still not functioning.

The Home Affairs Ministry said the Opposition tried to confuse people about the work at the prisons by making contradictory statements.

While criticising the prison authorities over the lack of prison warders in some divisions, the Opposition hit out at the Government for planning to employ new warders.

The strengthening of human resources at the prisons was an integral part of the ongoing reforms in the sector following the introduction of the Reparative Justice Act, which set up numerous boards, the ministry said.

The Opposition’s argument that the parole system was not working showed it did not understand its aims and the fact that parole depended on how well an individual followed his/her care plan of reformation.

The Opposition only seemed to care about prisoners being released early rather than reforming themselves.

The Government criticised Dr Falzon for giving the impression that all purchases must be made after a public call, saying the prison was run according to established procedures and regulations and was subject to auditing by the relevant authorities.

It denied that the prison paid for the traffic fine imposed on an employee, as claimed.

It criticised the Opposition for failing to mention the successes of the prison warders in their fight against drug trafficking within the facility, pointing out that 12 people had been arraigned and faced drug-related charges.