THE Malaysian Prisons Department will ensure that the incentives and allocations announced in Budget 2023 will be fully utilised to enhance and strengthen its correctional services.

The department’s director-general, Nordin Muhamad, said the provision showed the government’s concern in making the prison transformation agenda a success to ensure that two-thirds of inmates undergo community rehabilitation programmes by 2030.

“This is in line with the goal of the Malaysian Prisons Department to become a ‘civilised humane culture development centre’,” he said in a statement last night.

During the tabling of Budget 2023 on Friday, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced the government’s AgroPrison initiative amounting to RM10 million for agricultural and plantation activities involving 70ha of Prisons Department land, and the additional tax deduction for employers who employ ex-prisoners was extended to include former Henry Gurney School inmates.

The department also obtained an allocation of RM18 million for the purchase of body scanners as well as the upgrading of facilities for five prisons, including the Seremban Prison in Negri Sembilan.

Another RM28 million was allocated to continue the construction of living quarters under the Prisons Department, which includes the Labuan Correctional Centre and the Correctional Academy of Malaysia. – Bernama, October 9, 2022.