As an organisation that helps prisoners, we have often criticised the way the prison tuck shop is run and asked why most of the prices there are higher than the ones found outside. The official replies have never been satisfactory.

A case in point is the recent reply of the Home Ministry to questions put by a reporter of The Times (December 4).

In this reply, the ministry described the prison tuck shop as a small village grocery and said that it operates at a loss. I am sure every small grocery shop would be delighted to have over 600 clients who have no choice but to shop there. That would surely be a lucrative business.

The ministry said that the tuck shop is stocked with items bought from unidentified small stores in the Corradino area. (Incidentally, is VAT paid on these purchases, as inmates are always charged VAT?)

Apart from the absurdity of one shop buying stock from another shop, would the ministry have us believe that officers leave Corradino Correctional Facility to shop for the items asked for by the prisoners? This is absurd. Imagine if in any one week half of the over 600 inmates asked for a bottle of water. Would an officer get his shopping bag, go round the corner and get 300 bottles of water? The same could be said for shampoos, toothpaste, cigarettes, tobacco and many of the 140 items on the list of products supplied to prisoners to choose from.

The ministry said that inmates can also obtain these items from their relatives. This is just untrue. Prison visitors know that they are not allowed any of the 140 items. Furthermore, would they have us believe that the prisoners are so stupid as to buy from the tuck shop items that they can get cheaper from outside?

And how can the tuck shop be losing money when most of the prices are higher than those found in all shops around Malta?

Everyone knows that when buying bottled water, agents give so much bottles free with every purchase. The same goes for items like shampoo, tomato ketchup and mayonnaise that are sometimes sold as two bottles taped together for the price of one. At the prison tuck shop these are always sold separately at a huge profit. Why inmates do not benefit from such offers is anybody’s guess.

We think that this state of affairs has gone on for too long and an inquiry should be held to answer these questions.