Prisons welfare commissioner to review deaths inquiries

A new Commissioner for Inmates’ Welfare will be tasked with reviewing prisoner deaths so as to ensure there is no irregularity and signs of mistreatment, a legal notice published this year shows.

The post of prisons commissioner was one of the 32 recommendations forwarded by a government inquiry into prison operations, set up in the wake of the death of 30-year-old inmate Colin Galea, who died days after committing suicide in Corradino Correctional Facility. The inquiry also forced the resignation of maligned director Alex Dalli, a former army official who presided over a spike in deaths inside the Maltese prison.

The new prisons commissioner will be tasked with examining the Correctional Services Agency’s safeguards and measures that are necessary to ensure that any treatment, decision or rules are in accordance with the law and established standards.

The commissioner will also carry out regular inspections, at least monthly, of all prisons, to ascertain the rights of prisoners are being upheld.

The individual charged with the position will have unrestricted access to all parts of the facilities within the prisons and to prisoners’ records, as well as the right to interview any prisoner in such facility in private.

A report on any possible breach of human rights, of any legislative breach, and any recommendations made by the Commissioner to the Corrective Services Agency during that year will be submitted to the Prison Board every June.

The prisons board will serve as an arbiter between the Commissioner, and the prisons agency,  the CSA.