Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1174220
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 OCTOBER 2019 MATTHEW VELLA LOCKING prisoners up in solitary confinement for hours will not make Malta any safer, a University dean has told the Prime Minister and the Presi- dent of the Republic in a plea to abolish the practice. Andrew Azzopardi, dean of the Faculty of Social Well-being at the University of Malta, has called solitary confinement in- side the Corradino Correctional Facility a 'retributive violation' that goes against the rehabilita- tion that prisons should be giv- ing. And in a salvo addressed to the ministers for justice, home affairs, social policy, as well as to MPs and the Chief Justice, Azzopardi has called for an im- mediate debate in the House of Representatives to revoke the punishment. "Whilst there is a need for measures that protect individu- als and staff from harm, as well as for disciplining persons who disobey the rules when in insti- tutions, the use of solitary con- finement should not be consid- ered as an option," Azzopardi said. "This is because of the varied and severely detrimental psy- chological and neurological effects that have been docu- mented in numerous research studies… the use of solitary con- finement may, in fact, worsen the behaviour of those who go through the experience, leading to aggressive outbursts and an inability to integrate back into the prison population or soci- ety." Solitary confinement is a pun- ishment that the law courts in Malta can give for specific criminal offences, for periods of not more than 10 days with an interval of two months between each stint. Solitary confinement may be applied during the two months if any other offence is committed during those two months, but the period cannot be longer than fifteen days. Un- less the law says otherwise the maximum amount of stints is twelve. Prior to applying this punish- ment, the criminal court must be satisfied that the person convicted is fit to undergo the punishment, even if necessary, through medical examination. But Azzopardi says that while measures must be taken to pro- tect persons held in institutions from causing harm to them- selves or others, solitary con- finement can worsen the prob- lems it was designed to solve. "Although longer periods of NEWS Prisons and courts condemning inmates to a future of mental illness says University dean who wants abolition of punishment 'Solitary confinement making Maltese prisoners vengeful' "Solitary confinement remains a controversial matter because we still relish a prison system that is essentially retributive rather than rehabilitative. The need for vengeance is still pronounced in our public psyche"