Upgrades but no new prisons planned, says home minister Saifuddin

Several prisons will be upgraded while those over 100 years old will be redeveloped to be made more conducive for inmates and Prisons Department staff, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says. 

Saifuddin said among those identified for this purpose are the Alor Setar prison in Kedah; Penang Prison, the Kamunting Correctional Centre (Perak) and the Pengkalan Chepa Prison in Kelantan.

"We are going with this (approach). We do not want to build new prisons because we want to reduce the crime rate and convictions. This is also to create prisons with more humane conditions to live in," he told reporters after an official visit to the Prisons Department headquarters in Kajang yesterday.

Saifuddin also said that the home ministry would add more prison officers and personnel and expedite the hiring process. 

He said the Prisons Department needs 1,300 officers and uniformed personnel as well as some 180 non-uniformed staff to meet its staffing requirements.

Saifuddin also said that the home ministry wants to change public perception by identifying prisons as more of a correctional centre rather than a place to punish convicts. 

This will be done through community correctional programmes such as parole and licensed prisoner release, in accordance with Section 43 of the Prisons Act 1995, he added. 

"We will target this programme for 18,500 offenders who are currently serving prison sentences of less than three years, (and) who are considered not to have committed serious offences.

"Looking at the statistics of the correctional programme and its success, it has clearly helped reduce the recidivism rate, with only one in 800 offenders returning to prison after being released," he said.