KUALA LUMPUR: 13 Malaysia Prison Department’s correctional academies will be transformed into temporary detention centres for those arrested for defying the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this is to resolve the issue of overcrowding in prisons.
He said the Home Ministry would be gazetting the new detention centres.
“The decision was made during a meeting yesterday for the Home Ministry to gazette 13 prison academies as detention centres for people defying MCO related offences. This will resolve issues especially relating to social distancing,” he said during his daily press conference broadcast live today.
He said although it was a prison academy, those who were detained in the centres should not expect special treatment as the same standard operating procedures (SOP) as prisons would be applied.
He said the details on law enforcement would be discussed with the police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and the Prison Department.
As of yesterday, he said the number of arrests of those defying the stay-home order stood at 9,702 while 612 individuals had been charged in court for MCO-linked offences.
Ismail Sabri also said authorities would take harsher action against those who defy the MCO and the police would no longer compromise or tolerate with any stubborn individuals who refused to comply.