THE RIGHT TO HEALTH IN PRISON:
RESULTS OF A NATIONWIDE SURVEY AND REPORT
4.38 The Commission therefore recommends that Specialist services be put in
place for consultant led mental health sessions in all prisons, which should
involve a mental health assessment by a qualified professional upon prison
entry, and regularly thereafter. A parallel programme should also target
prison staff members as working in prisons can be overwhelming and
stressful.
4.39 Prison staff members must also be alert to the symptoms of mental
disturbance.
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
B. Insane and mentally abnormal prisoners
82. (1) Persons who are found to be insane shall not be detained in
prisons and arrangements shall be made to remove them to mental
institutions as soon as possible
(2) Pisoners who suffer from other mental diseases or abnormalities shall
be observed and treated in specialized institutions under medical
management
(3) During their stay in a prison, such prisoners shall be placed under the
special supervision of a Medical officer
(4) The medical or psychiatric service of the penal institutions shall
provide for thr psychiatric treatment of all other prisoners who are
need of such treatment
83. It is desirable that steps should be taken, by arrangement with the
appropriate agencies, to ensure if necessary the continuation of psychiatric
treatment after release and the provision of sosial psychiatric after-care.
Asthmatic Prisoners
4.40 Although the Prisons Department informed the Commission that all
asthmatic prisoners are allowed to request for inhalers and medication in
prison, the Commission received a few complaints from prisoners that they
were not provided with these.
Tuberculosis (TB) Management Programme
4.41 The Ministry of Health in its Management of Tuberculosis Guidelines
(3rd Edition) explained that the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in
Malaysia continues to rise unabated leading to high rates of morbidity and
mortality.127 This problem has been compounded by the HIV pandemic,
complacency, neglect towards the disease and international movement.128
127
128
Management of Tuberculosis (3rd Edition). Accessed via http://www.moh.gov.my/attachments/8612.pdf on 23/2/16.
Ibid
71