Carwash owner happy many inmates treating second chance seriously
BUTTERWORTH: When K. Suraindran first recruited prisoners to help out at his carwash and office cleaning services in Perai, he was rather cautious and only took in two inmates.
“In the beginning, I was a little worried and only hired two prisoners in 2019, but over time, these people can actually carry out the work well,” he said.
Suraindran, 41, is working with the Prisons Department to give prisoners on parole a chance to start a new life.
“I have been recruiting parolees and prospects from the Licensed Release of Prisoners (PBSL) scheme to work with my company since 2019, and so far, more than 250 people have worked with us, and everything is going well.”
He told Bernama that only two or three out of 100 inmate workers had “attitude” problems and not crime-related matters.
In fact, Suraindran said he was happy because most prisoners who finished working with him could start anew without going back to a life of crime.
“At any one time, I hire five to 10 prisoners and now there are seven working in my company, they usually work with us between three and 10 months depending on the length of sentence they are serving,” he said.
He said recruiting prisoners under the parole system and PBSL initiative could, among other things, overcome the shortage of workers and indirectly give offenders a second chance in society.
The initiative of the Prisons Department to help convicts have a better life after being released has received good cooperation from employers willing to provide jobs for them in various fields.
An inmate in his 40s, who wants to be known as “Razak”, said he was previously sentenced to a year in prison for a drug offence and was released five months early.
He said the opportunity to work at Suraindran’s company would be used as best as possible as he wants to build a new life after being fully released.
“I consider this as a chance for me to turn over a new leaf.
“This job also allows me to be independent and earn an income to support myself,” said Razak, who was previously self-employed.
According to Prisons Department director-general Datuk Nordin Muhamad, a total of 4,120 prospects or 4.94% of the total of 80,000 prisoners are undergoing rehabilitation in the community, including PBSL, mandatory attendance orders, parole and halfway houses.
