An inmate at the prisons who claimed persecution at the hands of prison guards ever since “witnessing” a crime behind the facility's walls has faile
An inmate who has filed an application claiming inhumane treatment at Corradino Correctional Facility, targeting him and other prisoners, has filed a fresh application claiming he has been placed in solitary confinement.
Brian Vella, 41, who is serving a prison term after being convicted for a double murder, said he has been banned from communicating with the outside world and was placed in solitary confinement as retribution for speaking out on the situation in prison.
Times of Malta reported that following the first application, a search was carried out in the inmate’s cell in his absence and he was stopped from using the prison telephone to communicate with his relatives.
Corradino inmate who alleged ‘campaign of terror’, held in single cell under surveillance
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri confirms prisoner claiming he can tell all about a ‘campaign of terror’ is being monitored in a single cell room
4 May 2021, 3:29pm
by Nicole Meilak
Minister Byron Camilleri confirmed to journalists on Tuesday that Brian Vella, the prisoner in question, is being held in a single cell room, by himself, with cameras monitoring the area in order to protect him.
Beyond this, Camilleri said that he would not comment further on the issue out of principle.
Vella was convicted of a double murder of an elderly couple in Paola, whom he had held agains their will during a burglary.
Updated at 2:23pm with Correctional Services Agency statement
A prisoner who initiated judicial proceedings over what he describes as systematic terror inside the Corradino Correctional Facility, now claims to have been placed in solitary confinement in a fresh court application.
Brian Vella, 41, said in a court application filed on Monday that he has been banned from communicating with the outside and was placed in solitary confinement as retribution for speaking out on the situation in prison.
Vella said he is prepared to confirm under oath that the “torture chair” mentioned in the media does exist, despite denials by both Dalli and the Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri. He also claimed to have seen prison guards taking out a dead prisoner from the facility in September 2018.
Updated 2.18pm
A prisoner who made claims about systematic terror, fear and torture at the Corradino Correctional Facility has been placed in solitary confinement and banned from communicating with anyone outside prison.
Brian Vella, 41, filed a fresh application in the Criminal Court on Monday claiming more inhumane treatment sparked by last week s claims and asked the court to order his transfer to the Forensic Ward at Mount Carmel Hospital.
He said that after he filed his first application last week, his cell was searched in his absence and he was stopped from using the prison telephone to communicate with his relatives. He was also transferred to a division where prisoners are usually sent as a punishment where he was placed in solitary confinement. He is only allowed to emerge from his cell for one hour a day.