PETALING JAYA – It is imperative that prison reforms be expedited to contain Covid-19 outbreaks in these facilities, said former deputy defence minister Liew Chin Tong.
“If nothing drastic is done to reduce prison overcrowding, when Covid-19 spreads to other prisons, we will have a replay of the same episode we witnessed in Tawau and Kedah,” he told The Vibes.
Liew, a prison reform advocate, said the new standard operating procedures for handling inmates announced by the government recently are “good”, but “not enough” to address the issue of overcrowding.
He cited suggestions made in a post yesterday on his blog, where he recommended alternative punishment methods, reforming the country’s strict drug laws, improving the remand system, parole for elderly inmates and the expansion of medical services in prisons.
Asked whether prison personnel, policemen and vendors need additional protection from the coronavirus given their proximity to both inmates and the public, he said this requires more “thinking and coordination” on Putrajaya’s part.
“Some emergency spending on extra medical staff and a smaller prison population will, hopefully, help.”
Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner Jerald Joseph said despite the new SOPs, the high number of inmates poses a mammoth task to prison officials.
“The new measures introduced by the government may help with easing the transmission of Covid-19 within prisons, but the authorities face the daunting task of handling the pandemic in detention centres operating beyond capacity.
“I think it’s a great improvement to manage the prison system with new protocols. But overcrowding makes (carrying out) SOPs difficult, even in normal times.”
On Thursday, he told radio station BFM 89.9 that the issue of overcrowding in prisons has long been a top concern, and Suhakam has been assisting the authorities in finding solutions to manage the problem.
“Now with the pandemic, definitely (the issue) has been pushed to the forefront. Any overcrowding in prison exacerbates other issues affecting society at this point in time.”
Earlier this week, the Prisons Department said it will allow the release of some inmates to reduce congestion in jails and curb the spread of Covid-19.
Minor offenders will be granted release on licence, based on sentences of less than a year and applicable to those who have less than three months left to serve.
Jerald lauded this as a step in the right direction, even if it there is opposition from some quarters.
“Malaysian society should think differently and not get angry if prison authorities suggest that (for) minor offences, we have other ways of sentencing them, maybe community service or (through the) parole system,” he told BFM.
Last December, Prisons Director-General Datuk Seri Zulkifli Omar said 25 of the country’s 38 correctional facilities were operating beyond capacity.
At the time, the department counted 72,000 inmates nationwide.
This week, it said there are more than 1,100 active coronavirus cases involving inmates and prison staff.
On Wednesday, the Health Ministry confirmed the death of an 85-year-old inmate at Penang Prison.
The following day, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced new measures undertaken by the Prisons Department to halt virus transmissions, including a no-visitor policy and the sanitising of facilities twice a day.
The management of new inmates and prisoners’ trips to and from court is also part of the new SOPs.
Ismail Sabri said new inmates must be quarantined and screened for Covid-19 upon their arrival at a prison, with those showing no symptoms to be tested again in 13 days and housed separately from other inmates.
Temporary prison facilities have been set up to prevent congestion, he said, and a special task force established to handle the situation. – The Vibes, October 11, 2020
