NATIONAL REPORT ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

IN MALAYSIAN CORRECTIONS SYSTEM

 

1.0              INTRODUCTION

 

The Prisons Department of  Malaysia is responsible for about 30,000 offenders on any given day.  This responsibility relates directly to important aspects of the lives of these offenders, the  department must discharge its responsibility in accordance with the law, the mission of the department, and the social and cultural traditions of our country.

 

This report presents the current situation under which the Malaysian Prison system is now operating. The prison population, population composition and related issues faced by the Prison Panel Administration will be described accordingly.

 

2.0              TREND IN CRIME AND PRISON POPULATION

 

The Malaysian Prisons Department is comes under the administration of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Department currently operates 33 institutions nationwide. These institutions include; 24 Prisons, 3 Rehabilitation Centre, 5 Advanced Approved Schools and 1  Detention Centre. In term of capacity, the overall comfortable / approved capacity is 23,914 (as per September 2002), however the actual total number of inmates in all institutions is 29,286 – an additional of almost 20 %.

 

Of 29,286 inmates held at all penal institutions, as at 30th September 2002, 18,464 were convicted prisoners, 7,913 remandees, 655 juvenile offenders, 2,142 in the Rehabilitation Centre and 112 in the Detention Centre. The number of convicted inmates has increased from 12,584 in 1992 to 18,464 in September 2002 (+ 46%) and the unconvicted has also increased from 6,463 in 1992 to 7913 in September 2002 (+ 22%). Generally, the overall total number of prisoners (convicted  and  unconvicted)   has  risen  by  38% from year 1992  to September 2002.  With the proposed introduction of various new Acts and Laws to give great emphasis to prison sentence as a form of punishment. With the introduction and proposal of various Acts and Laws emphasizing on prison sentence as the main form of punishment, the number of inmates is expected to increase.

 

3.0              PRISON POPULATION LEVEL

 

As at 30th September 2002,  of 18464  convicted inmates, 40.2% were Malays, 9.6% Chinese, 8.2% Indian, 3.4% mixed races and 38.6% were foreigners. The majority of the foreign inmates were convicted for illegal entry/residence, possession of false immigration documents and petty crimes.

 

In prison terms, all convicted prisoners are classified as short-term sentence (6 months and below) and long term (above 6 months). As 30th September 2002, there were 7,347 (39.79%) short-term prisoners and 11,117 (60.21%) long term.

 

4.0              PRISONS POPULATION AND OVERCROWDING

 

Overcrowding of prison facilities is a major challenge face by the prison department. Overcrowding impedes the effective implementation and adherence to required international standard of correctional facilities  particularly UNSMR (Treatment of Offenders). Table 1 illustrate the over population issue is one that is continues.

Table 1 : Overcrowding

 

Year

 

Capacity

 

Prison

Population

 

+ / -

(%)

 

1995

 

19,410

 

24,831

 

+ 27.3%

 

1996

 

21,080

 

24,730

 

+ 17.3%

 

1997

 

21,080

 

25,846

 

+ 22.6%

 

1998

 

23,884

 

29,150

 

+ 22.0%

 

1999

 

23,884

 

26,700

 

+ 11.0%

 

2000

 

23,884

 

27,358

 

+ 14.0%

 

2001

 

23,884

 

28,891

 

+ 20.0%

 

2002*

 

23,914

 

29,286

 

+ 22.0%

           

As at 30th September 2002

Prison overcrowding has many negative effects upon inmates. The Prison Department has utilized various measures to eliminate and alleviate the negative impact of overcrowding:

a.                   Transfer of inmates from over populated prison to less populated

b.                  Renovations and modifications of existing building structures

c.                   Construction of new prisons facilities

d.                  Cooperation with other agencies

 

As long-term strategy, several proposals have been forwarded to Ministry of Home Affairs to reduce the inmate population. These proposals are focused on the  rehabilitation process. Proposal include:

a.                   Revival of the Compulsory Attendance Center Act 

b.                  Parole System

c.                   Community Service Orders

d.                  Suspended Sentences

 

The proposals will be far more complex and have a challenging route than that of redesigning the physical environment of prison facilities.

 

 

 

 

 

5.0       CONCLUSION

 

The Prisons Department views the abrupt increase in prison population very seriously.  The changes in the prison population profile have pushed the department to embark on various new avenues and approaches in order to minimize its impact.