Warder Arrested For Supplying Drugs To Inmates: Simpang Renggam Boleh!

The Simpang Renggam detention centre, Malaysia's proud answer to Guantanamo Bay and a shining example of our democracy at work is back in the news and as usual for the wrong reasons of course.

Throwing these criminal types into horrid conditions indefinitely is one thing but milking them of whatever money they or their families can scrap together by selling drugs to these sods is totally another. A warder was caught doing just that and you can bet your last packet of ganja that he is probably not the only one indulging in a little kerja sampingan. Five others are under siasat but hey who's counting. Earlier reports had put the number of pushers in warder's uniforms at sixteen. Read the NST report here.......

A Simpang Renggam detention centre warder has been arrested for supplying drugs to inmates, while another five are being investigated.

Several inmates will be transferred to other detention centres as they have had drug dealings with these warders.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said the authorities had known about such activities for a few months.

"We have been checking all prisons," he told reporters at the Prisons Department headquarters here yesterday. "The situation is under control except at Simpang Renggam."

A task force was formed three months ago after the Prisons Department received information that warders were supplying drugs to inmates.

When asked how long the problem had existed, Fu said: "I can only speak about Simpang Renggam. Things became very serious in the last couple of months. That is why we set up the task force."

On Saturday, the New Straits Times reported that 16 warders in Simpang Renggam were being probed for allegedly supplying drugs to inmates. Fu declined to confirm the figure but said investigations were continuing.

"One warder has been arrested under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985. Another five are being investigated."

He also said inmates found with drugs or prohibited articles had been penalised. To prevent similar incidents, the Prisons Department has improved security procedures for inmates and prison staff.

Fu said Malaysia’s prison warder-to-inmate ratio exceeded the international acceptable standard. He said the national ratio was higher than the accepted level of 1:3. Our prisons and detention centres can hold up to 31,000 inmates but there are at present about 39,000 inmates.

"The problem is made worse by insufficient warders. There are 9,974 warders in our prisons, which makes the national ratio 1:4.5. The ratio for Sungai Buloh is even higher at 1:8.

"The capacity at Simpang Renggam has exceeded by nearly 90 per cent, while the rate at Sungai Buloh is close to 70 per cent. The conditions are not satisfactory, so the Prisons Department has asked the Public Service Department to expedite the recruitment of new staff."

Sixteen prisons will also be built. "Once the prisons are completed within two years, the capacity will be increased by 15,000," Fu said.

***** Poor Fu Ah Kiow is trying his best to diplomatically explain away the very bad situation which prevails in all prisons in this fair land of ours generally and the Simpang Renggam hellhole in particular. If truth be told most of the warders are bloody corrupt and are a criminal bunch who have utter disregard for the nation's laws, for in their domain they are the law. Most politicians and citizens alike couldn't care less what happens inside prisons and if possible they don't want to know. That makes it all the more easier for these purveyors of drugs to make their small fortunes from the inmates.

In Malaysia the detention laws are such that anyone who is considered culpable can be locked away and almost forgotten. If not for the gross abuse by the warders and others, such sins against fellow human beings would never have been known. But do you think anything positive will come out of this? Never. We speak and preach human rights a lot at international fora, feign shock when breaches occur in other places, but close one eye to monstrosities like Simpang Renggam in our country. We are the true epitome of a genuine third world nation.
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Earlier related post: Depiction Of The Real Condition At Simpang Renggam Detention Centre.