3. Improving the condition of detention centres CH A PT E R 1 a) Abolishing the bucket system in old prisons Since its establishment in 1999, SUHAKAM has been visiting places of detention on a regular basis as part of its mandate. It has observed that there is much room for improvement with regard to the provision of health care in prison. In 2014, SUHAKAM initiated a study on “Right to Health in Prisons” to ensure that the conditions of confinement in the country were constitutional and consistent with standards of health, safety and human dignity. During the course of that study and previous site visits over the years, SUHAKAM observed that there were prisons that did not have in-cell sanitation facilities, especially the old prisons like Taiping Prison, Penang Prison, Seremban Prison, Pengkalan Chepa Prison, and the rehabilitation centres in Muar and Batu Gajah. As a result, prisoners have to urinate and defecate in buckets or portable units in their cells. In the morning, the prisoners have to empty their buckets into the main septic tank. SUHAKAM’s visit together with government agencies to the Pulau Pinang Remand Prison regarding on abolishing the bucket system in old prisons. Hence, one of the SUHAKAM’s recommendations in the ‘Right to Health in Prison’ report was to replace the existing bucket system with in-cell sanitation. In pushing for this, SUHAKAM initiated three meetings and organised two visits with the relevant agencies to Taiping Prison and Penang Prison in 2018. The series of meetings and visits were attended by representatives from the Prisons Department, Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA), Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Works, Economy Planning Unit SUHAKAM ANNUAL REPORT 2018 75