More Than 9,000 Foreigners In Malaysian Prisons

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Bernama) -- Some 9,757 foreigners are serving sentences in Malaysian prisons up to the first six months of this year. Home Affairs Ministry secretary-general Abdul Rahim Mohd Radzi said they form about 27 percent of the 36,728 prison inmates nationwide. "This figure is not alarming but I must admit that the more foreign prisoners than local prisoners in East Malaysia of Sabah, one of the two Malaysian states on Borneo island. "Of the total 1,300 prisoners in Sabah, some 1,020 are foreigners," he told reporters after closing the 1KDN Family Carnival at Kajang Prison Complex near here on Sunday. Rahim said to alleviate overcrowding in prisons, inmates would be relocated to other prisons to ensure that the number of prisoners was balanced. "As for foreign prisoners, we don't want the issue of overcrowding in prisons become a burden to the country and ministry," he added. Some 3,600 of 4,100 prisoners under the parole system had completed their parole period and were released. "Less than one percent of prisoners under the parole system were re-arrested by security forces for violating the terms including repeating criminal offences." -- BERNAMA