JOHOR BARU: Malaysia is facing an impending prison overcrowding issue.
Over 50,000 prisoners are currently serving jail terms for various offences across the country – a number which exceeds the ideal figure for prisons nationwide.
In an effort to reduce prison congestion, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the ministry has directed all prison administrations to carry out rehabilitation programmes, and to identify prisoners eligible for early release through parole and inmate probation systems.
"However, we need to determine which inmates should be given a second lease on life, as the parole system should be a corrective programme and not a ticket for criminals to cut short their jail terms," he stressed.
Nur Jazlan said that prisoners serving time for non-serious, non-violent criminal offences will be considered for parole, as well as ex-convict job placement initiatives.
He said that the job placement initiative aims to prevent former inmates from relapsing and returning to a life of crime.
"(This would) defeat the purpose of rehabilitation. We need to enhance the prison parole programme so that reformed prisoners would stay away from crime and receive public support when they are released back into society," Nur Jazlan added.