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The Reception Regulations do not allow applicants to be detained in prisons, yet consider the possibility of doing so in requiring that – if kept in prisons – applicants should be kept separate from convicted persons and the Reception Regulations would apply to their situation. However the Regulations do not envisage such an exception for children.[1]
In terms of the Places of Detention Designation Order,[2] ten places are designated as places of detention in terms of the Immigration Act. In practice, the ones used throughout 2025 for the purposes of administrative detention were:
- Ħal Far Initial Reception Centre (China House). This is used to detained newly arrived persons not deemed vulnerable and, subsequently, as a regular detention centre;
- Ħal Far Open Centre (HOC). Although not formally listed as a place of detention, newly arrived vulnerable persons are detained here for health-based reasons. HOC is composed of a number of metal containers surrounded a large hangar, with shared spaces for toilets and showers;
- Safi Barracks. The largest detention centre, holding applicants as well as rejected asylum-seekers and persons set to be removed from Malta. Although the main population is single men, Safi also has a section for unaccompanied children in the age assessment procedure and also a section for single women. Safi Barracks are the headquarters for the Armed Forces of Malta, so the area is a heavily militarised space. The spaces designed for detention, including meeting rooms, clinics and other buildings for administrative use, are generally metal containers whilst one zone is a building on two floors, with large, shared bedrooms. All areas have an outdoor fenced-in space;
- The policy custody space at Malta International Airport. This space is used for persons who, having attempted to enter Malta without fulfilling entry requirements and denied entry, are returned on the same or next flight back to the country they had flown to Malta from.
The Detention Centres are managed by the Detention Services (DS), which until 2023 was a public entity established and regulated by the Detention Services Regulations,[3] and formalised as a public Agency in 2023.[4]
Neither UNHCR nor NGOs have access to the detainees’ living quarters, so it is not possible to provide much information on their physical description. The 2025 CPT report provides some insight as to the internal divisions:[5]
Safi Barracks
The largest detention centre, within the compound of the Armed Forces of Malta headquarters. It is composed of several Blocks with a total capacity of around 1,000 persons, with a block reserved for unaccompanied children and another for women.
Blocks A, D and C are large dormitories with various zones within each block.
In Block A, several rooms in the zones have 2 sets of lined-up 10 bunk beds in around 40m2. Each room has a few cupboards, tables and chairs. Windows and doors are barred, the latter leading to a shared corridor with some benches and tables. There are shared toilets and showers. Each block has a bare tarmac exercise yard, shared amongst the 4 zones per block for a few hours each day.
Block B (female), holding up to 12 women, is made up of pre-fabricated units surrounding a partly shaded tarmac yard, with an outside table, benches and small library. Rooms have wall-mounted air conditioners and heaters.
Block (B), two warehouses holding up to 550 persons, is filled with rows of bunk-beds. One warehouse is internally split into smaller units. In both, there are shared toilets and showers.
Block C, with a capacity of 70 persons, is packed with rows of bunk beds. There are a few tables and chairs, shared showers and toilets and a washing area for detainees to wash their clothes.
Block G is the Close Monitoring Unit (CMU), holding up to 7 people. There are 3 single-cell rooms of around 4.8m2 each and 2 double cells of around 7m2. The latter have two bunk beds and unscreened toilets without lids, and both areas are under 24/7 CCTV monitoring. There is a small outside yard with a table, two benches and a washing machine.
Block D is actually the Ħal Far Initial Reception Centre.
Ħal Far Initial Reception Centre (China House)
This is a separate detention facility, yet formally designated Block D within Safi Barracks. HOC is made up of 3 zones (A-C) with a total capacity of 170 persons.
Zone C has 4 open rooms measuring around 18m2 each, with 6 sets of bunkbeds. There is a large common area that is generally used as the dining area, and the Zone is equipped with double and single shower rooms and 6 toilets.
[1] Regulation 6A(1), Reception Regulations.
[2] S.L. 217.03, 1996, available at: https://tinyurl.com/47zzyrah.
[3] Detention Services Regulations, S.L. 217.19.
[4] Detention Services Agency (Establishment) Order, S.L. 595.45, 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3t4txnu7.
[5] CoE Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Report to the Maltese Government on the visit to Malta carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 26 September to 5 October 2023, 10 July 2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/3kaf66bf.