finance, manpower and accommodation for inmates faced by the prison. The offenders only need supervision and control over them is unnecessary. Recommendations ❖ A thematic study on the economic and social impact of overcrowding of prisons and best practices to mitigate them should be conducted. ❖ Prisons in Southeast Asia should create a common practice of sharing knowledge about the management of prisoners and to discuss the solution to improve the condition in prisons or correction centres on a regular basis. ❖ The Prison Department and the relevant Ministries should hold regular discussion sessions with non-government organisations (including human rights institutions, child and women right actors and the legal fraternity) to further discuss best practices to gain valuable insight to improve the prison system in line with the international and human rights standards. ❖ Continued amendments and improvements to the Prison Act 1995 of Malaysia should be made to nurture humane culture in prison and ensure the law is in line with international human rights standards. SESSION 2: INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ON PRISON STANDARDS 3.1. Mr. Dai Tanaka, Associate Crime Prevention and Justice Officer, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Bangkok Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific presented a briefing about the international standards and norms on prison administration and treatment of prisoners. According to Mr. Tanaka, the mandate of UNODC is to assist countries in building and reforming their prison systems and in implementing non-custodial sanctions and measures in compliance with UN standards and norms. UNODC provides advisory on overcrowded prisons and physical support to address health emergencies, crime prevention and criminal justice. Within this mandate framework, the UNODC regional office has been providing support to prison systems in Southeast Asia for decades including capacity building, opportunities for prison officers, advocacy and advisory on custodial measures to address overcrowding issues and custodial sanction in compliance with human rights principles and UN standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice. As COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges to the prison system, people deprived of liberty are likely to be more vulnerable to an outbreak than the general population because of the confined conditions in which they live. Under typical medical conditions, the infection rate of diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis in prison is lower than the general population outside of 24