KOTA KINABALU: Former inmates of Sabah's Women's Prison will have a better chance of making a living after their release following the nation’s first ‘Program Wanita Bangkit Bersasar’ (WBB) initiative here in the state, says Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
The programme is aimed at assisting selected former prisoners who are talented in business operations, said the Women, Family and Community Development Minister.
“We are targeting women who are talented in operating a business but cannot leave the house due to constraints such as family duties or caring for their children,“ she said.
Nancy said this pilot project is a collaboration between the National Welfare Foundation (YKN) and Malaysian Prisons Department and will operate in Taman Olivia, Penampang.
During her inspection of the implementation of the programme at Anjung WBB Sabah YKN on Tuesday (Aug 20), she said that the YKN and the Malaysian Prisons Department provided the place to generate income for women in prison.
Nancy added that this is done through skills learned while serving their sentences and said that 10 inmates can be accommodated here at any one time.
Nancy hopes women in prison will be able to generate some income when they are released and then slowly be reintegrated into society.
Prior to this, she had visited the Kajang Women’s Prison to check on the possibility to conduct the programme there but it was later discovered that the prison was not feasible due to several factors.
She said some of the main reasons included the inmates themselves, who are not ready to leave the prison for this programme.
Nancy then added that the size of the Kajang Women's Prison is large and said that there aremany existing programmes and activities held for the inmates there.
