A 30-year-old prisoner’s attempted suicide prompted an investigative board into the correctional facility’s internal procedures and sparked online outrage. Found in his cell at 5:05 pm on Sunday, the Maltese national inmate was assisted by the facility medical team and promptly transferred to Mater Dei Hospital in critical condition. Allegedly having been alone in his cell when the incident occurred, there were ‘no indications’ he was in distress in recent times.
Discussing the incident, Xarabank host Peppi Azzopardi posted to Facebook asking; ‘What just happened in prison? We have a right to information. Now.’ A post uploaded by Andrew Azzopardi also shed light on the situation, inquiring how not a single statement was issued about the case and asking who will be the recipient of the blame this time around. Azzopardi also targets Minister for Home Affairs, National Security and Law Enforcement Byron Camilleri for backing up an institution which is ‘imploding’.
Over the past three years, twelve prisoners have died whilst serving time at Corradino Correctional Facility. The board investigating the internal procedures has 60 days to provide the Home Affairs minister with a set of proposals after it carries out several tasks. These include; scrutinising the Correctional Services Agency’s procedures about inmate mental health and the procedures implemented to assess them, analysing the procedures implemented when someone returns to prison after being discharged from Mount Carmel and studying the measures linked to suicide prevention amongst others.
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Photo Source: Peppi Azzopardi FB, Andrew Azzopardi FB, Byron Camilleri FB