Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1391768
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 JULY 2021 NEWS EMERGING STRONGER 20 th - 21 st JULY 2021 14 th Annual Conference 2021 MALTA'S FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY: CONFERENCE.FINANCEMALTA.ORG/FM-2021 2, Cell 56 and was found dead at 6:30am. Pathologists appointed by Magis- trate Charmaine Galea pinned down the cause of death to a "cardiomy- opathy" that was consistent with "dilated cardiomyopathy (a disease of the heart muscle)". The medical experts said there were numerous causes for the disease, although "ge- netic factors play a role in up to 25%- 35% of cases". They said the disease can lead to "sudden cardiac death". The inquiry said no illegal sub- stances were found in the victim's blood and no prima facie evidence of any neglect by the CCF resulted. 4 July, 2021 – Kim Borg, 29 Borg, a drug addict, was incarcer- ated last February for two years after being found guilty of theft. She had been receiving methadone treat- ment in prison and was waiting to be placed in a drug rehabilitation programme. She was found uncon- scious in her cell, in what prison authorities described as a suicide attempt. She died three weeks later at Mater Dei Hospital where she was receiving treatment. A magisterial inquiry is ongoing. The authorities have said that the victim's dependency on methadone had been reduced gradually and a few days before the attempted su- icide, the woman had seen a psy- chiatrist, who reported that she was doing good progress. No risk of su- icide was mentioned. The Home Affairs Ministry has denied the woman was being kept in solitary confinement. A magisterial inquiry is underway. The latest death has raised con- cern on the state of the CCF, which is run with an iron fist by prison di- rector Alex Dalli, a former military colonel. He has been in charge since 2018 and came under pressure for his disciplinarian methods with the Opposition even calling for his re- moval. The Council of Europe's Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Popula- tions for 2020 show that Malta had the highest suicide rate in prisons at 25.2 per 10,000 inmates in 2019. Only Iceland's was higher but the country was excluded from the league table because of its relatively small population. Government has yet to issue a re- action to the report, which is cur- rently being studied. Four of the pending magisterial inquiries since 2018 concern cases that are suspected to be suicide.