In its report on the May 2001 visit, the CPT focussed on the legal framework governing safeguards against ill-treatment by the police, the programme of reconstruction at Corradino Correctional Facility (the only prison in Malta), as well as the activities provided to prisoners, and the conditions prevailing in the forensic ward at Mount Carmel Hospital.

In their follow-up response to the CPT's report, the Maltese authorities state that "issues such as the questioning of criminal suspects, the conditions of detention in police cells and the inspection of police establishments by an independent authority will continue to be given all the importance they deserve."

The response goes on to highlight various specific measures taken to implement the Committee's recommendations.  Those measures include steps to improve medical services at Corradino and the construction of a new Forensic Ward at Mount Carmel.

The CPT requested confirmation that immigration detainees were no longer being held at the Ta' Kandja Detention Centre.  While noting that recent landings of large numbers of illegal immigrants on Malta had created an "emergency situation" necessitating continued use of the Ta'Kandja Detention Centre, the Maltese authorities state that the Centre "would be closed down as soon as possible".

Both the visit report (published on 27 August 2002) and the interim and follow-up responses of the Maltese authorities are available on the CPT's website http://www.cpt.coe.int.