SINTOK: A total of 20,503 prisoners have completed their rehabilitation programme outside the prison walls under the parole system since it was introduced in 2008.
The system, an effort to allow the inmates to adapt to outside life before leaving the prison, has helped to reduce the stigma involving former convicts in the community.
The Malaysian Prison Department (JPM) deputy commissioner general (management) Datuk Jamaludin Saad said currently there were a total of 821 prisoners still under parole nationwide.
“The parole system has helped to reduce public negative perception on former inmates who are really working hard to be a changed person and return to the community,” he told reporters after witnessing presentation of executive certificate to staff from JPM and the Welfare Department (JKM) at a hotel here today.
A total of 117 graduates from the two departments received the certificate from Universiti Utara Malaysia vice chancellor Datuk Seri Prof Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak.
Jamaludin said since the beginning of the programme, the department recorded less than one per cent of recidivists.
He said through the rehabilitation programme, the prisoners were monitored by parole officers to ensure that they abide the law and were well behaved.
“By engaging in activities with the community we hope it will open people’s mindset to accept them when they return to the community,” he said.