KUALA LUMPUR: A total 51,123 Covid-19 cases were reported at prisons nationwide involving inmates, prison staff and their families, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Mohamed Said said the cumulative cases included nine new-borns in prisons.
“The Home Ministry is committed in ensuring prisoners, staff and all our clients, receive Covid-19 vaccine.
“Steps are being taken to vaccinate the prisoners in stages to curb the spread of Covid-19,” he said in reply to a supplementary question by RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong).
Earlier, Ismail said as of Aug 25, there were a total 69,507 prisoners in the country, about 13.5 per cent (8,265 people) exceeding the original facility capacity of 61,242 people.
He said the ministry had taken steps to prevent the spread of the virus in prisons.
This, he said, included measures to address overcrowding by transferring some inmates to prisons that were less crowded and opening temporary prisons, including modifying 13 former National Service Training Centres (PLKN) as satellite prisons.
He said the centres, gazetted under Section 3 of the Prison Act 1995, were used as Admission Prisons to house new inmates for the purpose of isolation before being sent to the prison.
“Apart from that, the Prisons Department also set up prisoner transit centres to reduce infectivity to house convicted individuals and those under remand who pose minimum security risks by taking into consideration the need for isolation based on arrival dates.
“In line with the department’s aim to have two-third of convicted inmates eligible for out-of-facility or community-based rehabilitation, steps are being taken to reduce crowding in prisons,” he said in reply to a question by Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli (Pas-Dungun).
Among them are release on parole, compulsory attendance orders, 14-day early release (privilege for prisoners under special level), industrial in-mates re-integration programme, Corporate Smart Internship programme, Licensed Release of Prisoners (PBSL), re-integration programme for inmates (before they re-enter society) and halfway houses.
To a supplementary question by Wan Hassan, Ismail said prisons have rooms to house inmates needing treatment for communicable diseases and clinics manned by Health Ministry medical officers, as well as wards for inmates who are unable to care for themselves.
Source: New Straits Times
