Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/989894
17 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JUNE 2018 they would have to lose certain rights and privileges: including having a job, and access to education. This seems to indicate that female inmates have less access to such rights and privileges than men. Is this the case? CC: Certain jobs and train- ing opportunities are offered to men and women separately; so the work opportunities – which are often needed to be able to buy medicine, for example – are not the same. They are 'gen- dered', in the sense that men are, for example, offered carpentry and IT-related training, while women are offered sewing, or hairdressing. The problem in the case of our clients was that once they changed section, they were not allowed to carry on the jobs and courses they were doing or following at the male section. They also realised that, once they moved to the female section, they had less time outdoors... this is something else that this judgment revealed. Wait, does that mean that female prisoners in general get to spend less time outdoors than men? CC: In the prison section... yes. But isn't that just a blatant case of gender discrimination? If so, how can it possibly justified? CC: There is a problem. Part of it is simply that the female sec- tion is very, very small. There are far fewer female inmates; and strangely enough, in this context it becomes more dif- ficult to accommodate smaller numbers of people. All the same, this only came to light in the first place because there were inmates who experienced both sections... NF: Another issue that gets complained about in the female section is that, if you look at the physical structure... because it's so much smaller, it's dormitory- based, rather than cell-based. In the male section, there's a mix: when you have so many more people [Note: Male/fe- male prison population figures stand at roughly 500+ males to 50-max females] you will need different sections, depending on the crimes, the seriousness of security threats, etc. The fe- male section is largely a dormi- tory: which one can understand from a logistical perspective, as it makes things easier. But from a personal privacy perspective, spending years of your life liv- ing in a shared space, the size of this room, with other people... people you might not get along with; or you might not want to get along with... or you just might want your personal space. Bear in mind that prison does cause a certain level of mental stress and anxiety, and people do need some time alone, just for reflection, etc. That in itself is something that inmates keep complaining about. The struc- tures are not conducive to them living a dignified, quiet life. But this goes beyond our case; and we want to emphasise that we are not an NGO specialising in conditions in prison... No, but you do specialise in human rights; and surely, these are human rights issues... NF: Agreed, but we don't go to prison on a regular basis to mon- itor conditions. There's a limit to how much we can comment on what's going there today... Fair enough: but these conditions have now been confirmed by a court ruling; and while your clients have been compensated, the actual injustice has not been independently investigated. Shouldn't there be action taken as a result of this ruling? NF: With human rights judg- ments, the way they are ap- proached is that they are never the end of a situation: they're generally the beginning of a process. In this case, it comes in the middle of a dialogue we've been having with gov- ernment for many years. Some things have improved, and the court acknowledged the im- provements. In fact, the court specifically ordered the direc- tor of prisons to continue the work that he (now she) has been conducting in prison. For us, the judgment gives us the drive to tell government we need to sit down: first of all, to explore what happens, and is going to happen, to all transgender people in prison... because they're still there. And more transgender people will be going to prison: that's a fact. So we need to see what needs to be done to avoid a repeat of this situation. But in the wider context, some- one – if not us, another NGO or entity – needs to sit down with government to look at prison in general: the physical conditions, living conditions, employment, education... the whole idea that you're meant to live in dignity, with a view to eventually reintegrating in- to society. That, ultimately, is the aim of prison. Is it happen- ing, or is it not? That's what we need to be asking... What about the perpetrators, though? We now have evidence that there were systemic human rights abuses at Corradino prison over a period of years, if not decades... shouldn't we be talking about criminal charges against those responsible? NF: Now you're touching on the subject of impunity. In this case, in terms of 'perpetrators' there is quite a broad range of individuals and entities. Starting at ministerial level, going all the way down to the security guard level. The fact that ministries were aware of the policy that placed transgender people in the male section; and endorsed, or ordered, or enforced that policy... for us, that's a direct line of responsibility. You are putting an individual in a state of exposure to human rights violations. But because of the way the Maltese legal system is structured, the minister was taken out of the case, insofar as responsibility is concerned. Maltese law states that it is the director of the institution who is responsible. From a human rights perspective, we think that there needs to be more po- litical accountability at higher levels. The prison director was not himself taking decisions like that... there was a political context. That makes you under- stand how frustrated our clients are: that after so many years... yes, they have a great judg- ment...but as the judge himself pointed out, there is a limit to what a court ruling can do to restore your dignity and sense of worth. The fact that ministries were aware of the policy that placed transgender people in the male section; and endorsed, or ordered, or enforced that policy... for us, that's a direct line of responsibility in prison, too