MELAKA, Oct 5 — The Prisons Department Malaysia has a plan for modern buildings to replace the archaic prisons that are over 100 years old, mainly those built in the 1800’s in some states.
Its director of Prisoner Management, commissioner Ajidin Salleh said the proposal involved the prisons in Alor Setar, Penang, Taiping, Batu Gajah and Seremban due to the original structure of the buildings becoming obsolete and irrelevant in the current situation.
“We see that there is a need as some of these prisons are still using the (latrine) ‘bucket system’ in the detention rooms which are without a toilet, and the modern world no longer uses this kind of latrine.
“So, we will propose that this matter be included in the next Malaysia Plan so that the old prisons can be replaced either with new buildings or new ones be built at other sites,” he said after officiating at the 2021 SPM Excellence Awards ceremony for Integrity and the Henry Gurney School in Telok Mas, here, today.
Meanwhile, Ajidin said the Prisons Department also aimed to ensure that inmates of the Integrity Schools and Henry Gurney School have at least one certificate or diploma upon their release.
He said the department would also prepare a rehabilitation plan to ensure that each inmate could plan their future while under detention.
“We will see what their inclinations or interests are in any field of education or skills before they either follow a short-term certificate programme for the Malaysian Skills Certificate or a diploma and so on at the institutions of higher learning (IPT).
“Like recently, we signed a collaboration with Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) which has sponsored 25 young offenders to take up the Entrepreneurship Diploma course, while we also have 50 inmates studying at the Asia College of Exercise Medicine (ACEM) for a diploma in the first cohort.
He said the Integrity Schools throughout the country and the Henry Gurney School scored their best achievement in five years when they managed to achieve an average grade of 4.57, below the National Average Grade of 4.80.
