Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546037
Andrew Azzopardi: 'Our criminal justice system is close to collapse' Andrew Azzopardi has long championed the rights of prison inmates and every summer voices his concerns about the extreme heat at the Corradino Correctional Facility. He tells Matthew Farrugia this is just a small part of a much wider issue that leaves inmates prone to recidivism and lacking proper rehabilitation 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 AUGUST 2026 INTERVIEW ANDREW Azzopardi believes Malta's criminal justice system is close to collapse because of fail- ing infrastructure and a lack of political will to address certain problems. Excessive heat inside the Corradino Correctional Facili- ty during the summer and sol- itary confinement as the cho- sen form of punishment are just but two issue Azzopardi raises. He says the authorities acknowledge the problems and the concerns but fail to act. And it is this paralysis that cuts across the system—the police, parole, prison—that frustrates him; angers him. As we sit down for this in- terview, I put to him the ar- guments often made whenever people like him advocate for decent conditions in prison. He dismisses the argument that prisoners shouldn't be treated as if they are in a ho- tel with airconditioned cells. Azzopardi argues that in or- der for a person to rehabilitate themselves while serving time, they must have the right envi- ronment. Asked on the progress he has seen at the CCF since the time of former prison director Alex Dalli, Azzopardi admits he was one of those who mistakenly interpreted a drop in suicide rates as a sign of overwhelm- ing progress. He believes there is still much to be improved. He insists that solitary confinement as a pun- ishment for all wrongdoing diminishes one's ability to be rehabilitated. Azzopardi was not always one who believed in the cause he champions today. "It was Pep- pi Azzopardi who changed my mind on the subject… When I started meeting these people, I realised that there's nothing that different between them, you or me, other than a mas- sive mistake they once made," he tells me.