THE government should not delay vaccinating the 70,000 prisoners in jail to prevent more coronavirus clusters, public health and human rights experts said.

Prison wardens were prioritised for shots and it is now timely for immunisation to be extended to prisoners, including people in remand, they said.

Relatives of inmates told The Malaysian Insight they were worried with the lack of physical distancing and other public health standard operating procedures (SOP) in jail.

Former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said it is crucial that vaccination commence in prisons and detention centres.

“Start with testing the inmates and if they are negative, vaccinate them immediately with at least the first dose,” he said

Dzulkefly, who heads the Selangor special coronavirus task force, said the authorities must make the environment safe for the prisoners as a basic human right.

Vaccination is equally important for the inmates who are about to be released, he added.

Dzulkefly warned that failure to give the prisoners Covid-19 jabs would lead to more outbreaks as the “prisons are very congested”.

“It’s like tinder waiting for a spark to fall.”

The national immunisation programme was rolled out in February with the aim of achieving herd immunity among the populace.

Covid-19 cases and deaths have soared in recent months with total infections breaching one million. The death toll has exceeded 8,000.

Outbreaks were reported in a number of jails and holding centres, with prisoners as well as wardens and their families infected. Some prisons and their staff quarters were locked down as a result.

Earlier this month, minister in charge of the vaccine rollout Khairy Jamaluddin said that a special committee would be discussing vaccination for prison inmates.

It is unclear if the authorities have come with a plan.

The Prisons Department did not respond to queries from The Malaysian Insight.

Human Rights Commission of Malaysia commissioner Jerald Joseph said overcrowding in Malaysian prisons provide ideal conditions for the virus to spread.

“Overcrowding in prisons makes the spread of Covid-19 very easy. SOPs set by the Ministry of Health are almost impossible to follow in prisons,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Jerald said the only relief was that nearly all the prison staff had been vaccinated..

He said the prisons combined have a capacity for 53,000 inmates, but the latest data show 70,000 people are locked behind bars.

“Nationwide there are 38 prisons and at this moment there are eight temporary prisons set ups during the pandemic,” he added.

A woman whose brother is incarcerated in Kajang prison said he had complained numerous times about the lack of social distancing in jail.

“There’s seven of them in one small cell which makes it almost impossible to maintain social distance.

“I’m not sure why the government is taking so long to vaccinate inmates as the number of prison clusters over the past 12 months has been very high,” said Masturah, who didn’t want to give her full name.

She said her brother lived in fear of catching the virus.

Earlier this month, the Kepayan and Tawau Prisons in Sabah were the source of more than half of cases recorded in the state.

It was reported in December last year that 1,160 of prisoners and 125 prison staff and their family members were infected.

As the cases stacked up, new prison clusters have at several points accounted for up to 20% of the daily figures

According to the World Prison Brief, at least 118 countries have exceeded their capacity. Malaysian jails are overcrowded by 131.1 %. – July 27, 2021.