VI.
Mr. Jeeva, Legal Aid Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia raised a question
about deaths in custody. Has the Mandela Rules been implemented in
Malaysia?
Dato’ Narander Singh responded that deaths in custody in Malaysia is a
serious issue happening not only in prisons but also in police lock-up facilities
and detention camps. However, deaths in custody sometimes are
unavoidable. As for the Department of Prison, Malaysia, they have tried their
best to manage prisoners according to rules and regulation. They have tried
to ensure that prisoners are managed in a humane manner and to always
safeguarding the rights of everyone in prisons.
Prisons do not compromise on this kind of incidents. If any prison officer is
at fault, disciplinary actions will be taken against them. Every prison officer
and staff are aware of what kind activities that they must not indulge in to
always ensure the safekeeping of prisoners. Prison officers and staffs are
reminded daily to carry out their duties as efficiently as possible.
In addition to the response, Ms. Verma stated that according to the report
of the National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) which
was referenced during a press conference, as of 2020, there were 456 deaths
in police custody and 360 deaths in the custody of Immigration Department
and the National Anti-Drug Agency. It is important note about the suggestion
by SUHAKAM for the establishment of the Custodial Health Unit (CHU) by the
Ministry of Health, Malaysia and to have a specific rule to manage health
services in detention centres. She reiterated that according to SUHAKAM,
health factors are still listed as the main cause of deaths in custody. They
could be triggers to their deaths and according to her experience, limited
access to health services including when one is allegedly been subjected to
torture and ill-treatment because of death in custody was too many.
Ms. Verma took the opportunity to reiterate that some of the findings and
recommendations issued by SUHAKAM really need to be taken up by the
authorities. Besides that, there has to be an open, transparent, independent,
and credible investigation into all cases of alleged death in police custody. It
is also important to establish not just accountability of the State because it
takes the responsibility for individuals who are in the custody of State. She
thinks that it is equally important sometimes to exonerate the law
enforcement who may be falsely implicated in certain cases of alleged
excessive use of force. As such, she believes that it is of great value to have
an independent, credible, and transparent investigation into such cases. We
should start to look at institutional challenges to alleviate, to mitigate and to
prevent such cases from recurring.
VII.
Mr. Jerald Joseph, Commissioner of SUHAKAM, Malaysia stated that
everyone in the Conference is agreeable to the Mandela Rules. However,
the implementation of Mandela Rules requires costs. As for poor nations
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