12,000 prisoners nationwide receive skills training

KUCHING: More than 12,000 former prisoners throughout the country had undergone training in various skills while serving their sentence in prison and went on to be awarded skills certificates since 2012, says Prisons Department Prisoner Management director Abd Kadir Rais.

According to Kadir, the total is from 2012 to 2017 and this year alone 1,945 prisoners were awarded skills certificates in various fields.

He however said the department did not have the statistics on the number of ex-convicts who obtained employment after being released from prison.

“This is our way of giving opportunities to prison inmates so that when they are released, they could use their certificates to seek employment outside,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after officiating the closing ceremony of a Short Basic Course in Wrought Iron and Basic Air Conditioner Installation and Maintenance for Henry Gurney School students and Puncak Borneo Prison inmates in Kuching here yesterday.

Forty students and prisoners received their certificates at Puncak Borneo Prison.

“We believe each person should have a second chance,” he said and added that among the skills certificates issued included welding and sewing.

Besides, he said the department is also introducing new training on frozen product which is being carried out at the Kajang Women’s Prison.

Meanwhile Sarawak Prisons Department director Ajidin Salleh said the Sarawak Henry Gurney School began operation at Puncak Borneo Prison in 2016 with 50 students transferred from the Keningau Henry Gurney School in Sabah.

He hope more ex-convicts would be accepted to work in the employment market with their skills certificates. - Bernama