Kota Kinabalu: More than 20,000 prison inmates nationwide are undergoing community-based rehabilitation, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.
He said the rehabilitation is done through programmes outside of prison, namely the Parole Programme, Licensed Prisoner Release, Resident Reintegration Programme, Industrial Resident Reintegration Programme and Compulsory Attendance Order.
“They are being monitored to ensure smooth and orderly implementation,” he said when officiating the basic prisons management course closing ceremony at the Sabah Rela Training Centre, here, Thursday.
“The programme is very effective as it manages to reduce management costs and maintained a low recidivism rate of less than 0.5 per cent.”
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“Looking back over time, the many successes achieved by the Department prove that this organisation and its personnel can establish itself as a professional organisation.
“It is also accompanied by increased expertise in rehabilitation and strengthening the organisation’s role and existence at the international level.
“But expertise and experience do not come themselves unless learned,” he said.
The tasks carried out by the Prison personnel cover security and rehabilitation, which is challenging and risky.
“If an officer is not equipped with knowledge, experience and skills, their self-confidence and emotions may be disturbed, making it difficult to perform tasks effectively.
“Furthermore, the tasks carried out now are not only behind a stone wall or a barbed fence but within the community.”
He also reminded the Department not to be complacent about its successes but to continue to pursue improvement.
“Success should be considered as the first step towards more outstanding excellence. The Malaysian Prisons Department is now the leading correctional agency in the region, and several of its programmes such as academic education in prisons, the parole system and the Resident Reintegration Programme are being studied by several foreign countries.
“The Human Development Programme, a rehabilitation programme implemented in Malaysian prisons, had also been used in prisons in several countries abroad,” he said.
At the event, some 262 trainees – 172 from Sabah and the rest from Sarawak – completed their 23-week course.
The course is compulsory for all newly-appointed prison officers.
Also present were Prisons Commissioner-General Datuk Nordin Muhamad and Sabah Prisons Director Deputy Commissioner Nora Musa.
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