Home Minister: Prisons Act amendments aim to protect prison officers, not grant them immunity

PUTRAJAYA, July 27 — Amending the Prisons Act 1995 aims only protect prison officers exercising their duties within their stipulated limits, and not to grant them legal immunity, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said today. 

Saifuddin Nasution said the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is still free to make its recommendations and stressed that the Home Ministry will not defend any officers caught flouting the rules. 

“However, we have to be fair when civil servants, including Prisons Department officers, face legal action even after performing their duties responsibly,” he said at the Home Ministry’s monthly assembly. 

“We do not want our officers to struggle in silence,” he added. 

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah tabled the amendment bill in the Dewan Rakyat last month but it was later referred to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Human Rights, Elections and Institutional Reform for further scrutiny. 

The amendment bill seeks to empower the commissioner-general of prisons to order the installation of electronic monitoring devices on prisoners in custody, on licence or on parole, to create new ranks and appoint volunteers to help prison officers conduct rehabilitation programmes.

However, one of the highly-contentious provisions includes Section 63A which would grant immunity to prison officers and other individuals acting under the orders, directions or instructions of the commissioner-general from legal action or prosecution if they acted in good faith and their actions are deemed necessary under the Act.

Some lawmakers have questioned the necessity of such far-reaching powers, especially after a recent Suhakam inquiry found the involvement of prison staff in constitutional and human rights violations that led to an inmate’s death during a prisoner transfer operation at the Taiping Prison in January 2025. 

However, Saifuddin Nasution said the ministry will continue engaging all stakeholders to convey its perspective before the amendment bill is put to vote in Dewan Rakyat.