JAILING movement control order (MCO) offenders is causing overcrowding in prisons and making social distancing impossible, the Prisons Department has told the judiciary, asking judges to sentence offenders to community service instead.

In a report by Malaysiakini, the department expressed concern that MCO violators had not been tested for Covid-19.

Prisons Department director-general Zulkifli Omar sent a letter to Federal Court chief registrar Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh outlining his concerns, which was leaked to the portal.

Zulkifli said, as of April 1, 378 people had been given custodial sentences for breaching the MCO.

“Apart from adding on to the already crowded prisons, the Prisons Department is concerned that they could become the source of Covid-19 outbreaks in prison as their health status are not known,” Zulkifli said, adding the potential for the spread of the virus threatened the lives of inmates and staff.

It is Zulkifli’s opinion that violators instead be given community service under the Offenders Compulsory Attendance Act 1954.

The MCO came in to force on March 18 for two weeks but Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin later extended the order for a further two weeks until April 14.

Despite restrictions curtailing all but essential movement, the police have been detaining people for flouting the rules and sometimes giving frivolous reasons for doing so. – April 4, 2020.