Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1390367
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 JULY 2021 NEWS KARL AZZOPARDI THE Home Affairs Ministry will not commit to an independent inquiry into the death of a female prison inmate who passed away at hospital, three weeks after at- tempting suicide. The woman died on Sunday at Mater Dei Hospital after attempt- ing suicide last June. In reply to questions sent by MaltaToday, a ministry spokes- person "categorically" denied the individual was being kept in soli- tary confinement in prison when she attempted suicide. However, the spokesperson did not answer when asked whether the ministry will hold an inde- pendent inquiry into the death. The woman was imprisoned af- ter pleading guily to six counts of fraud and theft last February, hav- ing also had suspended sentences extended for another four years. According to the ministry spokesperson, the individual met with the Correctional Services Agency's professionals so as to map out her care plan. "This is a procedure followed for every new admission in the facility," she said. "Since the individual was high- ly dependent on drugs, as can be verified through the judgment delivered by the court, regular meetings with medical doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists were held," the spokesperson said. "A care plan was prepared so as to help the person's dependency on methadone decrease gradually." She said that following consul- tations with the psychiatrist the deceased inmate's dependency on drugs decreased gradually. "It must be noted that the indi- vidual was awaiting the decision of an independent board, namely the Prison Addiction Rehabilitation Management Board (PARMB), regarding an application to start a drug rehabilitation programme," she added. Xarabank presenter Peppi Azz- opari lashed out at prison author- ities on Monday, following the news of her death, saying impris- oned drug addicts are forced to stop taking drugs cold turkey, and placed in cells for up to 23 hours a day. He said the victim was not giv- en access to a drug rehabilitation programme, and was forced into "ruthless incarceration". Despite attempting suicide last June, the ministry spokesperson said that "just days" before her attempt, "the individual did not have any suicidal thoughts at the time". "In fact, the last meeting with the psychiatrist was held just days be- fore the incident and it was made clear that the person in question was registering significant pro- gress in this regard," she said. The incident has once again raised serious concerns on the state of the Corradino Correction- al Facility, which has the highest suicide rate in Europe. Including the latest incident, there are now six ongoing mag- isterial inquiries into inmates' deaths. These inquiries are dis- tinct from any independent in- quiry the ministry can hold to determine the circumstances of incarceration and whether the au- thorities could have done more to prevent the suicide attempt. Between 2013 and 2020, there were 26 prisoner deaths: 20 of them occurred at Mater Dei Hos- pital or in other care facilities such as Mount Carmel Hospital. Six of these deaths occurred inside the prison. The government says 16 of these deaths are listed as "natural causes", whereas five deaths were caused by suicide. The cause of the remaining five deaths are yet to be determined. Prison system cannot be trusted - Beppe Fenech Adami Opposition spokesperson Beppe Fenech Adami lashed out at the prison system, blaming the dra- conian leadership for the inmate's death. "Once again, we have a family suffering because of their daughter's death, because Robert Abela's government keeps on in- sisting that in prison everything is running smoothly and there are no problems... the prison system today cannot be trusted," Fenech Adami said. He said the government contin- ues to refuse to understand that the manner by which the prison is being run is leading to one death after another and no one is shoul- dering responsibility for this. "The prison is a national scan- dal, where the lives of people are worthless. Prisoners have become simple numbers with no dignity," Fenech Adami said, calling on the Prime Minister to intervene and ensure the situation in pris- on is addressed. He called for the removal of the current prison di- rector. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "This is profoundly unethical and immor- al. No members of the immediate family were consulted or given the opportunity to preview the publication. The one interview with a family member conducted by Mark Montebello many years ago was with Anne McKenna, who terminated it abruptly due to his unduly forceful approach. We wish to make it clear that there are many inaccura- cies contained within this attempted biog- raphy in perception, detail and conclusion." The statement from the family carried no references to any passage in the book being challenged. Previously, the family presided over other book launches about the Labour prime minister. Mintoff biographer Mark Montebello has said that the memoirs published by the former Labour prime minister's family, Mintoff, Malta, Mediterra: My Youth had had over two-thirds of the original manu- script purged from the final publication. Mintoff began writing his autobiography in 1993 at the age of 77. "Mintoff had previously vacillated in do- ing so until he spasmodically began to fill sheaves of rough paper, every corner of them, with his tiny flowing neat calligra- phy, writing exclusively in English. When Mintoff's nephew, David Mainwaring, pub- lished the official version of Mintoff's mem- oirs in October 2018, 66% had being purged from it," Montebello said. "Presumably for practical and sometimes for discreet rea- sons." Montebello said the public was given the impression that the published auto- biography was unabridged, and that the years it covered of Mintoff's life, namely, 1916−1943, was a first instalment. "Dom's original and unabridged document con- tains well over 600,000 words, amounting to more than 2,500 printed pages. Eventu- ally only 34% of Dom's original was pub- lished," Montebello said, who was given a copy of Mintoff's full original document by Yana Mintoff Bland, Mintoff's younger daughter right after her father's death in August 2012. "Mintoff seems to have intended his nar- rative to point up his proper place in histo- ry's grand design. It is ironic," Montebello said, "how [in this way] the entire structure to an architect's work had been compro- mised." While copies of the original unabridged version of Mintoff's memoirs can now be consulted at the National Library of Mal- ta and the Public Library of Gozo, full use of this version was made by Montebello in his biography. "Mintoff's memoirs were precious to me in writing this biography," Montebello said. "When penning down his narrative, Mintoff must have kept in mind that the work would be published posthu- mously, and perhaps that is why he decid- ed to be uncharacteristically forthright and blunt." In the book, Montebello explains in full his discoveries about Mintoff's relation to various women, including his wife and daughters, but also quite some others. "A biography such as this," Montebello shared, "cannot be content with half-meas- ures. In working on it for seven whole years, three of them actually writing it, I was con- scious of Mintoff's standing within Maltese society, but also, technically, that this bi- ography will be the first serious attempt at documenting his life, and for this reason I needed to be thorough and uncompromis- ing with first-hand material." 'Profoundly unethical and immoral' Yana Mintoff Bland Ministry mum on opening independent inquiry into prison inmate's death The Corradino Correctional Facility in Paola