By Jacob Achoi
KUCHING, June 17: The Prison Department will try to work with the Association of Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (ASME) to offer jobs for ex-convicts.
In stating this, Prison Commissioner General Dato Nordin Muhammad said such an effort would help reduce recidivism in preventing overcrowding in prisons and to allow them to earn an income once released.
He added that at the moment the department was also working with Panasonic, which offers jobs to prisoners with less than a sentence of less than a year without them being imprisoned.
“We feel that community involvement to help ex-convicts is important, so we will work with ASME to help them,” he told reporters today.
He earlier officiated at the presenting of awards to 90 state prison officers at the headquarters at Jalan Borneo Heights.
Nordin disclosed that the working relationship with Panasonic in Selangor has show success, adding that some of the inmates received about RM3,000 salary a month, while some managed to bring home about RM18,000 to their families after the completion of the sentencing.
“This is what we called alternative sentencing which we will promote, so we hope to have more community involvement,” he stressed.
He also said overcrowding in State prisons was still at an acceptable rate, while recidivism in the state was very low.
According to him, recidivism stood at 2.1 per cent, while overcrowding stood at 4 per cent; well below the international standard of not more than 20 per cent.
Nordin also said Henry Gurney School in Puncak Borneo Prison also achieved a 100 per cent passing rate in the recent Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) results announced recently.
“This is another milestone achievement for the Prison Department in Sarawak,” he pointed out.
Present at the ceremony was State Prison director Mohamad Rosidek Musa. — DayakDaily
