Home minister Hamzah Zainudin said 80% of the inmates will be placed in various sectors to fill vacancies left by foreign workers.

“Through this effort, the government will be able to save RM182 million a year on prison management,” he told reporters at the Prison Day celebrations at Maktab Penjara Kajang here.

Also present were home ministry secretary-general Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz and prisons department director-general Nordin Muhammad.

Hamzah said the ministry was confident that the target could be achieved as more than 7,000 prisoners have already undergone community rehabilitation programmes last year.

“Congratulations to the prisons department for its efforts to achieve its target of two-thirds of prison inmates to undergo rehabilitation by 2030.”

On the proposed amendment to the Offenders Compulsory Attendance Act, due for its second reading in the Dewan Rakyat, Hamzah said the new provisions will allow the courts to impose an alternative to prison sentences on offenders who commit a particular offence.

He said based on statistics, since 2010, a total of 6,744 offenders had undergone the Compulsory Attendance Order, with a compliance rate of more than 96%.