The Paola prisons must be completely renovated to ensure inmates have adequate space, light and sanitary facilities that are not up to standard in some divisions, according to a Council of Europe report.
The report was drawn up by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) after committee members visited Malta in September 2011.
They carried out follow-up visits to the ones in 2008 at the Corradino Correctional Facility and the Safi and Lyster detention centres.
Overcrowding is a problem since the number of inmates rose from 417 to 593, while the official capacity remained 444. The report says while Division 4 was renovated, conditions in other divisions “deteriorated”.
Problems included using single cells to accommodate two inmates, humidity, lack of light and proper ventilation, toilets with faulty flushing systems and broken showers.
In its official reply, the Maltese Government said there was regular maintenance and efforts were being made “to ensure further necessary refurbishment is carried out as soon as practically possible”.
A collection of bodies acting and reacting at the beck and call of some NGOs - Government
The report says prison authorities should draw up specific programmes for inmates serving life sentences and reconsider giving them the chance to leave.
It says that even those convicted of genocide by the International Criminal Court could, in principle, benefit from conditional release.
The Government said it considered “the present policy as adequate” and while there was no specific programme for life-sentence inmates, they could practise their hobbies and participate in activities.
The report says the prison should improve the inmate classification system, “redouble” efforts to increase activities and training to prisoners and offer more sports.
It also recommends improvements to healthcare by, for example, increasing the presence of doctors, nursing staff and psychiatric and psychological services.
The fact that inmates who tried to harm themselves were kept in isolation on “suicide watch” was “indefensible”. This type of care was to be given in a hospital.
The Government replied that inmates showing severe signs of self-harm were immediately transferred to Mount Carmel Hospital.
The CPT had serious misgivings about how agitated or suicidal patients had on occasion been managed at the psychiatric hospital.
During the visit to the Lyster and Safi detention centres, the committee received hardly any allegations of deliberate physical ill-treatment.
They did, however, receive several complaints of disrespectful and racist language and excessive use of force by soldiers and police.
In August 2011, a female migrant said a detention officer sexually abused her and the alleged abuser was transferred. The Government said an investigation was ongoing.
The Government accused the Council of Europe of behaving in Malta’s regard “as a collection of bodies acting and reacting at the beck and call of some NGOs”.
It accused the CPT of using “harassing tactics by its concentration on... illegal immigrants” and complained it had not been true to its obligation to visit “different states… on an equitable basis”.
This was because the CPT made six visits each to Malta, Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary, despite the others being “much larger in terms of population, prison population and number of prisons”.