No prisoner-congestion problems in S’wak

KUCHING: Prisons in Sarawak are not congested; hence, there is no necessity to form a Community Rehabilitation Centre, said state Prisons director deputy commissioner Ajidin Salleh yesterday.

Community Rehabilitation Centres, he explained, were a collaborative initiative under the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) with the Malaysian Armed Forces. They are currently being carried out in the peninsula.

“We have not experienced any congestion of prisoners. Currently, we have 1,772 prisoners, which is under the maximum-capacity limit,” Ajidin told a press conference yesterday to announce the staging of the 226th National Prison’s Day celebration here.

Ajidin said the rate of prisoners returning to prison in the state was nine percent, which proved the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes carried out in prison here, such as the National Dual Training Scheme (SLDN) and Sijil Kecekapan Kemahiran (SKK).

“We are targeting at least 1,758 prisoners to be given skill certificates under our rehabilitation programmes. Our rehabilitation programmes have become a benchmark for other countries, especially AsiaPacific ones.

The module we use has been accepted and acknowledged by other countries.”

He expressed his hope that members of the public would change their perception towards prisoners so that they could lead proper lives after serving their prison term.