The prison warders found absent during a surprise ministerial visit last year which led to the resignation of the prison director were suspended for between three and five days, a Home Affairs Ministry spokeswoman has confirmed.
The incident dates back to April 7 last year when Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia unexpectedly turned up on Sunday evening after he learnt that a number of prison warders were not at work.
In the wake of this incident which had raised questions on the security measures in place at the Kordin Correctional Facility, a special board was set up under the terms of the Public Service Commission. Its remit was to investigate the incident and come up with recommendations as part of an operations review.
In August last year this newspaper had revealed that seven of the eight prison warders were found to be at fault of being absent from their place of work.
The maximum punishment they were expected to face was a warning and a five-day pay cut, especially as this was the first time any of them was being disciplined. However no official announcement was ever made by the Home Affairs Ministry, raising questions whether the case had been shelved.
Asked by The Sunday Times of Malta, a ministry spokeswoman said that six of the seven warders had been handed a three-day suspension, whereas the other one was suspended for five days, as his offence was deemed to be more serious.
The spokeswoman added that this was a closed chapter as the situation had drastically improved through the introduction of several measures which had led to more accountability and tighter controls.
In its report, the disciplinary board had recommended the investigation of the staff manning the prison’s entrance as well as the introduction of a biometric punching system.
Another proposal was for the prison director to keep a record of any deviations from the standard shifts to ensure accountability and transparency.
However the Home Affairs Ministry failed to reply when asked which of these recommendations had been taken on board.