The bill, announced under the 2025 budget, will consider first offenders who did not commit major crimes, pregnant women, senior citizens and inmates with disabilities, he said.

“The (estimated) number that will qualify for consideration is 20,000 offenders, who are first offenders.

“It also applies to offenders of minor crimes, for example, a poverty-stricken single mother who is sentenced to jail for stealing milk for her child,” he said after officiating the Kota Raja PKR branch’s annual general meeting here today.

Saifuddin said there was no need to politicise the criteria for this bill as eligible offenders will still have to go through several layers of vetting, and must have a good disciplinary record while in prison.

Yesterday, he had said the house arrest bill would be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat next year and that the Cabinet had approved the proposed law in principle.

Saifuddin pointed out that the government has implemented three initiatives – parole, compulsory attendance orders, and licensed releases – and found a low recidivism rate.

“For every 700 offenders we release, only one reoffends,” he said.

He also said the 43 prisons nationwide were seriously congested, leading to unconducive conditions for inmates.

“Therefore, we need to do something to overcome this as inmates are categorised into two (groups), those convicted and those under remand,” he said.

He said similar laws have been implemented in dozens of countries, including the US, Germany and Australia.

Previously, Muda executive committee member Dobby Chew questioned the house arrest bill, claiming that it would benefit certain parties.