Ex-convicts petition against inhumane prison conditions

 

Prisoners are abused by warders and deprived of basic needs, say former inmates who have signed a petition against inhumane conditions.

GEORGE TOWN: A group of 42 former prisoners have prepared a petition complaining about inhumane treatment over the past two years.

A recently released prisoner in a northern state, who wished to be known only as Ali, said the 300 inmates at the prison were denied basic rights such as breaks during which they could exercise or read books.

He said inmates who complained were punished by warders beating them or placing them in solitary confinement.

“We were forced to look at walls and our other cellmates 22 hours a day. We step out of our cell briefly for our muster calls and to bathe,” he told FMT at his lawyer’s office.

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Ali said he engaged a lawyer with the hope of bringing the conditions in prison to light with a petition signed by 42 former prisoners testifying to the abuse and conditions at the prison.

Ali’s lawyer, Hussaini Abdul Rashid, said he had written to the home minister, and the commissioner-general of prisons and was awaiting a response.

FMT has contacted the commissioner-general for comment.

Former Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph told FMT that prisons are required to follow minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners, who must be provided adequate food, water, and exercise as prescribed.

“The complaint raised should be addressed immediately by the prison authorities,” he said when told about Ali’s experience.

Ali said the prisoners were deprived of a decent bath and time to wash their clothes, with each person rationed to only 10 small pails of water from a common pool shared by all inmates.

Inmates were also forced to defecate and urinate into large rubber buckets, with excrement uncollected.

“At one point, we had to skip bathing to wash our stinking clothes. And we had to do it in secret. How are we even supposed to pray without having clean clothes,” he said.

Food served to inmates contained “scraps” of meat. He alleged that some prison warders even ate the food meant for prisoners.

Ali said prison officers also “hijacked” a facility by which families could spend up to RM150 to buy personal items and beverages for their imprisoned relatives. He said the prisoners were forced to take pre-selected packs, including things they didn’t need, instead of being allowed to choose the items they wanted.

Joseph said the human rights commission was previously informed that allocations had been approved to convert the “bucket system” toilets in prisons.

He said bucket system toilets were in use in seven “old and heritage” prisons in Penang, Taiping and Muar. - FMT