MALAYSIA saw the death of 176 detainees in the years 2015-2021 with a record 44 of them occurring in the last year, police data showed.

The number does not include the two custodial deaths that have taken place since the start of the new year.

The deaths of detainees are split into two categories – death in lock-up and death in custody.  People who died while being questioned by the authorities or while in remand are classified as deaths in custody; those who died in their cells are labelled deaths in lock-up.

The last seven years recorded 82 deaths in lock-up and 94 deaths in custody. In 2021, 14 people died in lock-up and 30 in custody.

The 82 lock-up deaths were of detainees who were Malay (42), Indian (15), Chinese (13) and foreigners (12). The race statistics of people who died in custody are unavailable.

Lawyer Ganesh Kanagaretnam told The Malaysian Insight the deaths could have been prevented if the persons in charge were held accountable.

“If the officer in charge of the police district (OCPD) can’t find out who is the perpetrator, the OCPD should be charged as the death happened under his supervision.

“Only then will the other officers know the consequences and try to prevent deaths from happening again,” he said.

He said police officers in Malaysia have too much power as illustrated in cases where they stop detainees from seeing their lawyers.

“I am also seeing a pattern whereby when an inmate dies in custody, the police officers would afterwards only talk about the offences committed by the deceased and not about the death.

“Also last year when there were so many custodial deaths, I never saw the prime minister stepping up to address the issue.

“If the prime minister cares about his people, he should step up and do something about it,” said Ganesh, who is also the lawyer for custodial death victim A. Ganapathy’s family.

Ganapathy was arrested on February 24 last year to assist in investigations into his sibling’s alleged crimes. He was said to have spent 12 days in police custody before he was admitted to hospital.

He died of his injuries on April 18 after more than a month in the intensive care unit.

‘Horrible lock-up conditions’

Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances (CAGED) spokesman Rama Ramanathan said some of the dead detainees should have not been detained in the first place.

“For instance, Benedict Thanilas was very clearly feeble and a heart patient actively undergoing treatment. Yet he was detained in the Jinjang detention centre.”

Benedict was arrested on June 29, 2017 to assist in investigations into a case of drug-trafficking. He was detained under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.

He was found unconscious in his cell on July 10 the same year at the Jinjang police lock-up and brought to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Rama said the lock-up conditions in Malaysia were “horrible”.

“And look at the case of S. Thanabalan; he was in the Shah Alam lock-up where the ventilation system was broken, detainees had to drink water from the toilet and there was an outbreak of leptospirosis.

“Officers from Shah Alam who testified during the inquests gave the impression that even they themselves didn’t want to breathe the air in the cells,” said Rama.

Thanabalan was arrested on March 29, 2018 for alleged involvement in a secret society. He died on April after weeks of detention at the Shah Alam police headquarters.

Rama said there were so many cases of people being detained for days “for investigation” without being questioned by police.

“When people are locked up, they may do things that make them likely targets for punishment, including isolation and beatings.

“The vast majority of remands should be for no more than 24 hours,” he said.

To prevent abuse and deaths in custody, a full post-mortem report on the detainee should be required within two weeks of death, he said.

“Also assign officers who report to different state police chiefs to investigate the death.”

Rama said the chief justice could direct the coroner, at the end of every inquest, to write an open letter to the inspector-general of police and the home minister to point out failures observed during the course of proceedings.

New unit to probe deaths

The government has established a criminal investigation unit to investigate deaths involving detainees.

The unit, which was launched at the start of the year, is made up of a dozen cops and a civil servant.

The year’s first reported custodial death  took place on January 13. Police announced the “sudden death” of a man in the Taiping police headquarters lock-up.

Bukit Aman Integrity and Standards Compliance Department director Azri Ahmad said the 63-year-old inmate of Taiping Prison had been housed in the lock-up for a court hearing.

The man was charged with motor vehicle theft and causing injury using a weapon on April 18 last year.

He was shuttled from prison to police lock-up to await mention of the case on January 11.

Two policemen have been detained in connection with his death.

On January 16, a 37-year-old man died in the Pengkalan Chepa police lock-up in Kota Baru while in remand for drug offences

Police said no foul play was involved.

Azri said a post-mortem found “no injuries or elements of crime”.

“The cause of death is water in the lungs. The incident has been classified as sudden death,” he said in a statement.

The new unit is investigating the two deaths. – January 28, 2022.