Prisons Dept gets inmates to share tales of remorse
BY YIP YOKE TENGKAJANG: The pain of separation from her child, according to Mei, was like “cutting off the flesh from one’s bone.”
It has been a year since she handed her eight-month-old son to Malaysian Care while at the Kajang women’s prison, where she gave birth to the baby in April last year.
She remembers vividly how she sobbed terribly as the child stared at his new guardians with his big bright eyes.
“I still cry when I think of him, especially at night. It hurts me too when I hear other toddlers in the prison cry or laugh,” said the 33-year-old, who was caught for pushing drugs.
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PRECIOUS MOMENT: Mothers spending their time with their children at a nursery in the Kajang Women's Prison last month. |
The department is sharing these stories with the public for the first time, in light of the worsening overcrowding in prisons in the country.
Currently, there are more than 31,000 prisoners in the country’s 28 prisons.
The Prisons Department’s secretariat head, Supri Hashim, said they realised that prisons had the resources to educate the public.
“We hope the better exposure will make them realise that crime sabotages one’s life, family and community.
“We also want the inmates to be aware of their mistakes through the press interviews,” he added.
Supri said the project also called upon parents to keep a close eye on their children and for society to provide opportunities for ex-prisoners.
“It also provides an insight on the duties, responsibilities and pressure borne by prison officers,” he added.
The Star, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Utusan Malaysia are the newspapers involved in the project, which will be launched today by Deputy Internal Security Minister Chia Kwang Chye at the Batu Gajah Prison Rehabilitation Centre in Perak.
The first story in the series will be published in StarMetro tomorrow and subsequent articles will be appear every week in Sunday Star.
The first article will be on the hardship experienced by women prisoners and their tearful confessions of having failed to fulfil their duties as good mothers and daughters.
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