Prisons Dept ready to take professionalism to next level

JITRA: The Prisons Department of Malaysia is ready to make changes towards becoming a more professional institution in reshaping the lives of inmates.

Its director-general Datuk Seri Zulkifli Omar said the department was ready to improve, especially in aspects concerning detention, compliance, service standards, rehabilitation, staff training, as well as correctional and reintegration facilities.

He said inmate protection and care will also be maintained as stipulated under the law, prison rules and United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the ‘Nelson Mandela Rules’.

“Towards improving effectiveness, we will train more educators, increase prisoner learning classes and ensure recovery programmes are based on the duration of a prisoner’s sentence.

“Professionalism will also be enhanced through continuous learning, corrections specialisation and continuous efforts to improve the salary scheme and allowances of prison officers and staff to be on par with other uniformed agencies,” he said in his speech at the 2018 Service Excellence Award (Northern Zone 1) at the Aminuddin Baki Institute here, yesterday.

At the event, a total of 182 officers and staff from the Perlis, Kedah and Penang prison departments received certificates in recognition of their performance and excellence in carrying out their duties. - Bernama