INMATES in 12 prisons throughout the country are making personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers managing Covid-19 patients.

Deputy Home Minister I Dr Ismail Mohamed Said said all sewing workshops in the prisons were prioritising making PPEs because of the urgent need for them.

“This is the initiative of the Prisons Department to help lighten the government’s burden in handling the Covid-19 crisis, as well to reduce the risk faced by frontliners, especially the healthcare staff.

“We are grateful to the inmates working hard everyday to ensure adequate supply of PPE, and they are doing it voluntarily,” he said.

Ismail was speaking to Bernama after visiting the sewing workshop at Penor Prison today. Also present were Pahang Prisons director Ab Basir Mohamad and Penor Prison director Abu Hasan Hussain. 

He said the state governments fully supported the efforts by the prisons, contributing the material and distributing the PPEs to the hospitals.

“We are also grateful for the positive response from the people who have contributed to the effort to make the PPEs.

“This kind of response will help lessen the stigma often associated with prison inmates, and hopefully, the public will accept them as they have repented,” he said.

Ismail added that the skills the inmates learnt from the prisons will help them start a new life, with many saying they intended to make sewing a source of income when they are released later. – Bernama, April 6, 2020.