THE Prison Department is targeting for two-thirds of eligible inmates to undergo community rehabilitation by 2030, to reduce overcrowding in prisons.

Its director-general Nordin Muhamad said initiatives implemented since 2008, such as the parole system, Compulsory Attendance Order (CAO), Resident Reintegration Programme, licensed prisoner release, and several others can reduce overcrowding in prisons across the country.

He said based on the department’s data, there are 82,539 with prison sentences and of that number, 76,336 are inmates in prison, while 6,203 are in community rehabilitation programmes.

“Currently, prisons nationwide can only house about 66,000 inmates, so there is overcrowding of about 10,000 inmates.

“This initiative is expected to reduce overcrowding, and we estimate that more offenders will be considered by the court to undergo a community rehabilitation programme,” he told the media at the launch of the Offenders Compulsory Attendance (Amendment) Act 2022 at the department headquarters today.

Nordin said the implementation of the new amendment bill could also provide an opportunity for minor offenders to serve their sentences outside prison.

He added that the community rehabilitation programme has proven to be effective because it has successfully reduced the rate of repeat offenders, with an estimate that only one in 400 released inmates returns to prison.

“We aim to reach 10,000 offenders who undergo CAO this year and we have already reached 79.5%, and are confident that number can be reached before November this year,” he said.

In addition, he said that thus far there are 52 PKW centres, and hopes that the government will consider adding 20 more across the country.

Home Ministry secretary-general Wan Ahmad Dahlan Aziz, was also in attendance, representing the Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin.

Wan Dahlan in his speech said the Prison Department could save on management costs by RM182 million a year through various programmes and initiatives.

He said RM5.5 billion has been spent over the past five years on prison management costs for the provision of equipment, facilities, medicine, food, control, escort, staff emoluments, and more.

“These offenders will be placed in industry and then be able to fill workforce vacancies that employ foreigners,” he said. – Bernama, October 11, 2022.