In August, SUHAKAM organised a workshop to draft SOPs for a CMU before the official launch in November. However, due to COVID-19, the official launch was postponed to the first quarter of 2021. SUHAKAM hopes that this effort can be expanded to police lock-ups in all districts in stages, beginning from 2021. Meanwhile, PDRM should improve or amend their SOP on the detention of individuals in police lock-ups. Upon arrest, Police must bring the individual to the nearest clinic to assess the detainee’s health and fitness and whether they are fit to be detained. In case the detainee is not fit to be detained, he or she should be immediately released after the inquiry, or alternative arrangements for further questioning later are made. However, if the inquiry will take more than 24 hours, unhealthy detainees should be released on police bail. 4.2 Medical treatment for prisoners in Prison Clinic Based on statistics provided by the Prisons Department, the number of deaths in prison are as below: Table 7: Death in Prison NO. YEAR 1. 2018 2. 2019 3. 2020 NUMBERS 345 405 188 (as of June 2020) According to the information provided to SUHAKAM, all the deaths were due to health issues. There are currently 73,000 prisoners housed in prisons with a total capacity of 52,000 inmates.6 Overcrowding has hampered the healthcare of prisoners. Considering the high population of prisoners, SUHAKAM observed that the number of healthcare personnel in prisons is insufficient to treat inmates. Through MOH, the government should increase the number of healthcare personnel, especially doctors, to ensure adequate treatment. 6 38 Prisons Department of Malaysia at Roundable Discussion in Addressing Scabies at Detention Centre, October 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 2020