Rais had said last week a special Senate committee has recommended that the government conduct prison reforms to solve the problem of congestion in prisons.
He said there is a need to study the prison system and analyse if alternative sentences would be more suitable.
In a joint statement today, the group of senators from across political parties said they fully support Rais’ push for reform efforts to overcome prison congestion to “ensure that the safety, health and lives of families, prison staff and detainees are protected from the spread of Covid-19”.
“The president of the Senate has recognised the need for the authorities to take immediate action to address this problem, including permission granted under the Prisons Act 1955 to release prisoners who commit non-violent crimes and are serving less than a year in prison,” the statement said.
It was signed by Othman Aziz, Razali Idris, Idris Ahmad, Liew Chin Tong, Mohan Thangarasu, Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah, P Waytha Moorthy, Marzuki Yahya, Theodore Douglas Lind, Ismail Yusop and Ras Adiba Radzi.
The senators noted that based on statistics from the Prisons Department, there were 65,139 prisoners in the country as of Nov 3 – a 40% increase from the 46,420 prisoners that the country’s 39 prisons are capable of housing.
They said it is estimated 25 out of the 39 prisons nationwide are overcrowded, making physical distancing measures harder to implement.
They also said the government needs to assure the public it is working to resolve the problem of prison overcrowding as the transmission of Covid-19 in prisons will also expose the families of the prison staff to the risk of infection.
This could then quickly spread to the surrounding community.
Stating that the Senate is concerned and ready to examine the issues affecting the people and the country more thoroughly, the group hoped its push for reform would strengthen the Senate’s role as an institution that is ready to work with all parties to address key national issues.
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