KUALA LUMPUR – As frontliners battle the spread of Covid-19 in the nation's penitentiary system, Penang Remand Prison has exceeded its capacity by 109.36%.
During the Dewan Rakyat Special Chambers on Thursday, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Said confirmed that based on statistics from the Malaysian Prisons Department on December 2, the number of inmates in Penang Remand Prison is currently at 2,303.
“This exceeds the actual capacity by 109.36% or 1,203 inmates,” Ismail said.
He said this problem was not limited to Penang and that on December 2, the Prisons Department said that there were 60,694 inmates in 339 prisons nationwide, exceeding capacity by 30.75%.
“However, only 500 positive Covid-19 cases were detected among inmates, and 37 cases among prison employees and their families as of December 2,” he said.
Ismail said that the Prisons Department is working closely with the Health Ministry to stop the spread of the virus.
Steps include placing low-risk inmates in national service camps gazetted as temporary prisons under Section 3 of the Prisons Act 1995.
“This plan also takes into account the needs of the Penang Remand Prison, where former national service camps, including the Bukit Mertajam camp, were gazetted as temporary prisons,” Ismail added.
Additionally, the police have designated 182 lock-ups nationwide as “transit lock-ups” for remand suspects, acting as district screening centres nationwide.
“That said, with standard operating procedures in place, high-risk remand suspects will be separated and not allowed to mingle with the others,” Ismail said.
The deputy minister responded to a question by Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera) in Parliament’s Special Chambers on Thursday concerning the situation in Penang Remand Prison.
Wong had referred to a statement last year by the Prisons Department, which said the remand prison in Penang had exceeded capacity by 45%.
He also asked if the remand prison complies with the United Nation Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners 1995, and how the government planned to reduce congestion in the penitentiary system.
The deputy minister confirmed that the prisons comply with UN standards, and added that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited a few penitentiaries in the year 2010, and raised no doubts towards the treatment received by inmates in Malaysia.
Ismail also said that the International Committee of the Red Cross inspected local prisons and were satisfied with the conditions inmates were in. – The Vibes, December 5, 2020
