RM270mil saved through out of prison rehab programmes, says deputy minister

TEMERLOH: The government saves about RM270mil in operations cost through three out-of-prison rehabilitation programmes involving convicts, says Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Mohamed Said.

The three programmes are the Persons on Parole, Licensed Prisoner Release (LPR) which was initiated in 2008 and the Compulsory Attendance Order (CAO) which involves about 80,000 prisoners throughout the country.

He said savings through the parole and LPR programmes was about RM180mil while about RM90mil was saved under the CAO programme which involves about 6,000 convicts.

"Apart from savings for the prisons department, such programmes are good for convicts because through it they are exposed to various skills training that will come in handy when they are released after serving their prison terms.

"We want the community to accept them when they are released.

"They (convicts) will also have some savings that they can use after serving their prison term,” he said after attending an outreach programme called Deputy Minister with LPR/CAO, employers, families and community here on Thursday (Sept 22).

Ismail added that ex-prisoners who were exposed to skills training could be readily employed because about 150 companies were ready to accept skilled ex-convicts.

Among such employers are Felcra, Lembaga Kemajuan Pertubuhan Peladang and Panasonic.

Ismail hoped more employers would come forward to accept ex-convicts so that they could be readily accepted by the community in their respective areas. - Bernama