REFORMS are needed at the Prison Department as the present system is outdated, at least for Muslim prisoners, said independent preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin.

Recalling his time in solitary confinement for three months during his sentencing, the 42-year-old Islamic preacher said he had a tough time knowing the time for prayer.

The Kelantan-born said he would sometimes guess the time for prayer.

“I would wake up in the middle of the night not knowing whether it is time for dawn prayer or ‘tahajjud’ (night prayer).

“It is the same during the day, I would have to guess the time. Is it time for afternoon prayer or not yet? The prison doesn’t tell you this,” said Wan Ji.

He was recently freed from Kajang Prison under the licensed release programme.

He was previously sentenced to nine months imprisonment for publishing offensive statements and insulting the Sultan of Selangor via Facebook 11 years ago.

Wan Ji argued that the objective of sentencing a person to prison is to turn the individual into a better person.

“So if you can’t pray, which is compulsory in Islam, how do you make someone a better person?

“If you can’t change a person while he is incarcerated for wrongdoing, it defeats the purpose of having a correctional institution. 

“The department should have made this easier for prisoners. You want them to change for good, but you do not allow something as basic as praying,” he said.

Wan Ji explained that he was not given his right to practice his religion as a Muslim.

“I was kept in solitary confinement for three months and 10 days. I was more ‘dangerous’ than any other inmate. I was driven to the verge of insanity.

“Usually, the solitary confinement block is for those who fight (in prison), smoke cigarettes or take drugs. They are isolated in a block called Blok Insaf (repentance block),” he said.

He urged Anwar Ibrahim’s government to look into this matter to allow other prisoners locked up in solitary confinement to be given their rights to practice their religion.

Following his full release, Wan Ji said he would now focus on completing his doctorate.

He also revealed that during his time in prison, he developed severe eye problems.

“I am now going to focus on my PhD. I managed to postpone my studies due to my prison sentence and now I will continue and finish what I started.

“But I have an eye problem. My eyesight is getting worse due to reading in the dark during my time in prison. There’s nothing I could do except from reading.

“I finished reading 36 books in three months in solitary confinement. The light is very limited. There was a small lamp and each time I had to read at night, I had to sit close to the book.

“During the day, it was dimmed. The sunlight was not that much. Because I can’t be with other prisoners, I continue reading or writing. So my eyes grew tired and now I suffer from really bad eyesight,” said Wan Ji.

Wan Ji is a PKR member now after switching parties from PAS.

He was also Lim Guan Eng’s Islamic affairs adviser when the latter was the Penang chief minister. 

Wan Ji was also close to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and has a close relationship with the late Nik Aziz Nik Mat’s family. – May 1, 2024.