There won't ever be a right time to discuss this issue. So, I will just address it now.
It’s hard to believe that anyone really cares about prisoners here in Malaysia.
When there was a spike in the daily figures for Covid-19 back in October, the public was ‘reassured’ that the transmission was mainly amongst those in prison. Somehow, this meant that it was less severe and largely within the control of the Ministry.
This, however, is a fallacy.
In March, at the start of the Movement Control Order (MCO), the highest daily figure recorded across the whole country was 235. At that particular point in time, this figure when viewed in light of a population of about 31 million in Malaysia seemed like a large number.
In early October, however, Malaysia was recording about 300 cases daily in one prison alone. This meant that in the span of 3 days, an estimate of 900 prisoners or officers in just that prison itself would have tested positive for Covid-19. Within a span of three days, a large percentage of that particular prison’s population would have contracted the virus.
An example of this can be seen with the Alor Setar prison or the Tembok cluster, which recorded 112 cases on 4th October, 224 cases on 5th October, an additional 394 positive cases on 6th October and 139 cases on 7th October. This amounted to a total of 869 cases in the span of 4 days. It is important to remember that this is not inclusive of the amount of cases falling outside of this range. On 14th October, Kedah Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor confirmed that there were 1314 active cases involving the Tembok Cluster.
Before anyone says that it’s “only” 1,314 cases in one prison, you have to consider the fact that Alor Setar prison has a population of about 1,800 immates (as reported on 3rd October). This means that about 73% of the population in Alor Setar prison would have contracted Covid-19 by 14th October.
This is a staggering amount as prisons mostly function in an ecosystem of their own. It is even worse when you consider that this was not an isolated incident involving just one prison but multiple prisons as well.
The several deaths that also occurred in these prisons or lockups are extremely tragic considering the fact that the punishment imposed is the deprivation of liberty and not life. The death of prisoners under remand is even worse because they are individuals who have yet to be convicted of any crime.
Kepayan prison, Tawau prison and Penang Remand prison, all faced a similar situation recording worrying figures over several days with Kepayan Prison recording at one point a total of 1,156 positive Covid-19 cases amongst 2,160 inmates, which translates roughly to about 54% of the population there.
While the Ministry of Health and the Prison Department managed to eventually reduce these figures and successfully treat those that tested positive, their efforts mostly resemble firefighting and the amount of cost and effort that was required to remedy the situation is an undeniably high one.
It doesn’t take a genius with a PHD to deduce the reason why Covid-19 was being highly transmitted in these prisons. In my opinion, Covid-19 has merely revealed the flaws that are inherent in the prison system such as overcrowding, lack of amenities and basic sanitation.
These issues ought to be addressed and discussed regardless of the existence of a pandemic or not and I don’t mean just by pointing fingers at politicians and calling for their heads.
Anyone can do that but we need to start dissecting the problem and raise awareness about the real issue that is plaguing our prisons and criminal justice system, which is funding.
I believe that a lack of funding remains one of the key reasons why many prisons in Malaysia are in a decrepit and neglected state, with prisons resorting to cost cutting measures at the expense of a prisoner’s well-being and dignity.
While there has been a lot of discussion surrounding Budget 2021, I can’t help but notice that there is a lack of conversation regarding prison expenditure.
The only mention regarding prisons in the Budget 2021 speech by Tengku Zafrul is the allocation of RM 20 million for the purposes of a Human Development program, to provide skills training to prisoners and to provide or encourage employment opportunities. However, this is simply a rehash of Lim Guan Eng’s speech for Budget 2020 where RM 20 million was announced for a similar thing.
While, yes there has been general allocation of funds for the Ministry of Health in order to firefight the transmission of Covid-19 across the country, the main cause of the recent spike in cases in prisons across the country seem to be driven by a lack of funds to ensure better sanitary conditions in prison.
In 2019, the late Datuk Liew Vui Keong confirmed that the amount of prisoners in Malaysia was over 66,000 despite the fact that prisons in Malaysia can only accommodate a maximum of 45,000 prisoners at one time.
Citing statistics from the prison authorities, it was also mentioned by him that the daily cost for a prisoner ranges from RM38 to RM41, inclusive of cost for amenities and prison officer wages.
This meant that the minimum daily cost for 65,222 prisoners would be over RM2.4 million and a total cost in the span of one year for 65,222 prisoners would be over RM900 million.
Why is this a red flag?
Expenditure for prisons come under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs and in the latest expenditure document that has been provided by the Ministry of Finance, the projected operating expenses for prison-related matters is RM 982,659,900 while the projected development expenditure for prisons in is RM 186,700,000. In total, this would amount to RM1,169,359,900. On a cursory glance, this would appear to be a sufficient amount to cover the expected yearly cost of RM900 million that I mentioned earlier.
However, this assumption is incorrect. This is because from information provided by the Prison Department in 2011 (yes, nearly 9 years ago) a breakdown of the daily cost of RM 35 for each prisoner includes the following:-
Out of the 9 items mentioned above, we can make a very generous assumption that only about RM 17 daily (before taking into account inflation) is potentially allocated to emoluments (items 6, 7 and 8). This would amount to about RM 404,702,510 per year.
This would mean that a remaining RM 500 million is still required for expenditure not inclusive of emolument such as expenditure on basic necessities such as food, clothes and hygiene items. However, under the 2021 projected operating expenditure, only RM205,961,900 is allocated for such non-emolument expenditure. This will be almost RM300 million less than what is required.
This should concern you because if the amount allocated for non-emolument expenditure is only RM 205,961,900 that would mean the daily non-emolument expenditure for 65,222 prisoners would only be RM8.65. This is a measly amount and is only projected expenditure so it could be assumed that actual expenditure may very well be lesser than this.
As seen in the list above, none of the items listed are related to development expenditure. As such, the daily figure of RM38-RM41 per prisoner that was quoted by Datuk Liew Vui Keong in 2019 is a figure that is not inclusive of development expenditure. Development expenditure is important and while it’s difficult for me to comment on whether the allocation for development expenditure for prisons is sufficient without further data, I did notice a red flag that may be a cause of concern.
In the 2020 projected expenditure last year it was estimated that in 2019, there will be a development expenditure on prisons in the amount of RM12,298,010. However, it is revealed this year that the actual expenditure in 2019 was only RM 48,303,668 with RM 0.00 being spent on the improvement and modification of prisons.
This highlights another problem that needs to be addressed because it appears that even if money is allocated for expenditure it may not necessarily be well spent or even spent at all.
Here's a question that is often asked: Why should we treat our prisoners with dignity or respect?
My answer to this is simple. Prisoners are humans too. Their punishment ought to be the deprivation of liberty and nothing more. The crimes they have committed do not permit us to treat them any lesser than a human being or subject them to unsanitary conditions that unnecessarily put their health at risk. If we were to deprive them of proper treatment, we are no different from those that we seek to punish.
In certain instances, these prisoners might not even be guilty of the crime they have been accused of and in the situations where they are held under remand pending the conclusion of their trial, these prisoners are individuals that have not been found guilty before a court of law.
It is also important to note that certain crimes have a close causal link to the socioeconomic status of an individual. We should not in those instances encourage the suffering of people that are caught in a system designed to reward the rich and punish the poor.
Refusing to acknowledge the inherent inequality that exists in our community and its causal link to crime is to enable a sadistic mindset obsessed with punishing the poor and marginalised communities here in Malaysia for the failures of the state.
Prison and the way we treat our prisoners is very much a reflection of our society.
If we choose to leave it in its current decrepit state without any improvement then it says a lot about us.
