Heads must roll in Taiping prison top management, says MP

 Lim Lip Eng calls for firm punishment, including suspension, disciplinary action, and criminal prosecution where offences are disclosed.

More than 100 inmates at Taiping prison were assaulted by about 60 wardens during a relocation exercise in January 2025, resulting in the death of one detainee. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

A backbencher has called for heads to roll among Taiping prison’s top management after Suhakam’s findings on the assault of over 100 inmates in January 2025, which resulted in one detainee’s death.

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said Suhakam’s findings were damning and shameful for Taiping prison, especially the discovery of false claims in police reports lodged by prison officers against detainees.

Suhakam also found that prison officers inflicted excessive physical violence, including through the use of weapons, which Lim described as “brutality behind prison walls”.

“The top management of Taiping prison cannot escape responsibility for what appears to be a cover-up of violence, false reporting, and abuse of weapons that occurred on their watch.

“I call for firm punishment against the top management and prison staff involved in the incident, including suspension, disciplinary action, and criminal prosecution where offences are disclosed,” he said in a statement.

More than 100 inmates at Taiping prison were assaulted by about 60 wardens during a relocation exercise from Hall B to Block E in January 2025. One of the detainees, Gan Chin Eng, died in the incident.

During Suhakam’s public inquiry, the prisons department’s federal counsel admitted that prison officers were at fault for violating the detainees’ basic rights.

Yesterday, Suhakam called for criminal charges to be filed against Taiping prison officers involved in the assault, saying there was clear and direct evidence of wrongdoing from CCTV footage and witness testimony.

Although a warden has already been charged with culpable homicide, Suhakam chairman Hishamudin Yunus said criminal investigations should be launched into other officers involved in the incident.

The human rights commission also found that the prison management proceeded with the transfer despite knowing that Block E suffered from serious structural damage and unsafe living conditions, which was why inmates had refused to move. - FMT