The prison tuck shop lacks a procurement procedure and is instead stocked with items bought from small stores located around the Corradino area.

The shop can at best be described as a grocery shop in a small village

The Home Affairs Ministry confirmed this following a costing exercise by The Times, which found that tuck shop items cost up to 88 per cent more than at supermarkets.

A bottle of Dove shower cream sells for €2.28 in two major supermarkets but €3.54 in prison. A pack of 200 cotton buds costs inmates €1.21 while their relatives on the outside can buy them for as little as 90c.

Toothpaste is similarly overpriced, as is floor detergent, shaving blades and mayonnaise.

Prisoners can console themselves by drinking Coca Cola or using Herbal Essences shampoo which, according to the tuck shop price list obtained by The Times, are respectively 21c and 51c cheaper when bought behind bars.

Stocking the tuck shop as though it were a family kitchen made sense, the ministry spokesman said, because the shop catered for a “relatively small” community of 600 inmates “who can also obtain such items from their relatives”.

However, the ministry did not explain why the prison authorities do not purchase items from supermarkets directly, passing savings on to inmates who are given about €40 a month to get by.

Instead, the ministry said the shop ran at a small loss and could never hope to compete with supermarkets and their bulk buying.

“The tuck shop, by way of comparison, can at best be described as a grocery shop in a small village,” a spokesman said.

Subsequent questions sent on November 2 asking the ministry to name CCF officials in charge of tuck shop purchasing, the stores items were bought from and how they were selected remained unanswered.

With their monthly allowance, inmates must buy toiletries, many medicines, clothes and any food other than the staple meals they are given. In the summer months, much of that money goes toward buying water, which sells for €2.33 for a pack of six.

“The tap water here is completely undrinkable. Drinking it makes you sick,” said Nigerian inmate Joseph Felaizoo, who is serving time for drug trafficking.

“The heat is unbearable in summer, so we spend everything on water. Maltese inmates can ask their relatives to help them out but what about us foreigners?”

As of September, there were 216 foreigners at the Corradino Correctional Facility, almost half of them awaiting trial.

Approximately 140 inmates supplement their income by doing menial work. Each of these workers receives about €110 a month.

According to Mid-Dlam Għad-Dawl director George Busuttil, many inmates only survive the colder winter months thanks to clothes handed out by the prisoner advocacy NGO.

“There’s a whole swathe of foreign inmates still in flip flops, unable to afford shoes. If they need underwear or warm clothes, they have to see how they can scrape up enough money,” he said.

Tuck shop prices were doubly galling, he said, because the prison tuck shop often sold twin packs of items as singles. “They separate items but don’t lower the price,” he said.

The tuck shop price list in the possession of The Times offers a glaring example of such practices.

A twin pack of Neutro Roberts shower gel is sold for €3.33 at one supermarket while a single bottle cost €3.13 in prison – an 88 per cent leap in price – before it went out of stock. “The last bottle of Neutro Roberts shower gel... was sold in June 2012 after having been on the shelf for quite some time,” the spokesman from the ministry said.

Paying price

Pfanner peach drink (2 ltr)
Supermarket 1 – €2.33
Supermarket 2 – €2.35
Prison – €2.95
+0.62 c +26%

Cotton buds x200
Supermarket 1 – €0.90c
Supermarket 2 – €1.05
Prison – €1.21
+31c +34%

Palmolive shower gel
Supermarket 1 – €2.85
Supermarket 2 – €2.91
Prison – €3.50
+ 65c +22%

Herbal Essences shampoo
Supermarket 1 – €3.54
Supermarket 2 – €3.66
Prison – €3.03
-51c , -17%

Fabuloso floor detergent
Supermarket 1 – €1.77
Supermarket 2 – €1.72
Prison – €2.20
+48c, +28%