Malta’s prison director interacts and walks with all types of prisoners since he believes they should be treated like humans, prison sources told Lovin Malta amid criticism of alleged favouritism among certain inmates, including Yorgen Fenech, the business tycoon charged in connection to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“In this way a bond of trust is built. The director takes time to walk with prisoners, and he resorts to human interaction to maintain order in prison – stability is kept by the balance between discipline and humanity,” they told Lovin Malta.

“Prison is a village with the interaction of over 1,200 persons in a confined space of 250m by 250m.”

The comments come after allegations that the prison director walks with “privileged” prisoners, such as Fenech. Sources confirmed that he regularly walks around with many prisoners, most of whom he knows by name.

“He walks around with all prisoners – every single one – and Yorgen is no different. The prisoners – all of them – are treated like humans,” they said.

However, they denied other major allegations, such as female prisoners washing Fenech’s clothes.

“That’s absolutely not true – it’s a big lie,” they said. 

And when it comes to Division 18 becoming a playroom for certain prisoners without any correctional officers watching over them, official sources denied this as well.

Over the last week, 12 prisoners were found to be COVID-19 positive, with sources saying that all prisoners had entered the prison with negative tests.

“The situation is under control and we are following protocol. On entrance, every prisoner is swabbed inside the police car. Then they spend 24 hours in a cell until the result comes in. If negative, they are moves to a special quarantine division. All prisoners are then closely followed by the prison doctors and medical staff,” they said.