Executive Summary Since its establishment in 2000, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (the Commission) has received numbers of complaints concerning human rights violations including deaths in the lock-ups under Royal Malaysia Force (PDRM) custody. Thus, in 2014, the Commission had conducted a research to identify the factors which influence the deaths in police custody. According to the Commission, right to life should be respected as it is enshrined in Article 5 of the Federal Constitution and should not be disregarded by any parties especially among the enforcing bodies. This matter is also highlighted at international level, for example in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Based on statistics provided by PDRM, the no. of deaths in police custody from 2000 to 2014 is 255 with the average no. of 17 annual cases within these 15 years period. This scenario indicates grave conflicts which cause dissatisfaction among the public. Frequent occurrence of the cases and various complaints received from the deceased family members as well as non-governmental organizations (NGO) show the existence of a systemic problem on managing the detainees in the lock-ups. At the same time, this problem has tarnished PDRM credibility in the eye of the community. Therefore, the Commission had proposed an initiative to examine the factors which contribute the deaths in custody. Due to existing constraints, the Commission was not able to perform a thorough investigation to every reported case. Instead, the Commission had addressed the approach of analyzing the pattern and underlying factors of the death so that this critical violation of human rights can be diminished consistently in the future. The Commission had visited PDRM lock-ups, police stations and interviewed the detainees, PDRM officers and personnel. The Commission had also observed the working surroundings especially for Investigation Officers (IO) and Assistant Investigation Officers (AIO) as well as the facilities provided to fulfill their duties. As a result of the thematic study, the Commission successfully published this report which generally consists of 11 chapters.