KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — The Home Ministry said there is an over capacity of 6,675 inmates in the country's prisons.

In a Parliamentary written reply, the Home Ministry said that based on the records of the Prison Department, as of February 2, the number of inmates who are currently serving sentences and detained in all prison institutions is 78,236.

This number exceeds the actual capacity of 65,762 across 39 prisons and three facilities involving the Henry Gurney School.

Out of 78,236 inmates, 72,437 (92.59 per cent) are prisoners placed in facilities while 5,799 (7.41 per cent) are prisoners in the community (serving their sentence outside of prison walls).

The Home Ministry was responding to PAS’s Kubang Kerian MP Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who asked what was the current ratio of prison wardens to the number of inmates.

According to the Home Ministry, the ratio of prison officers (wardens) to prisoners in each prison is at a ratio of one prison officer to three to five prisoners.

This ratio changes based on the prison security category, prisoner category as well as the need to implement various training and rehabilitation programs for prisoners.

The Malaysian Prisons Department from time to time conducts studies on the appropriateness of the ratio of prison officers to prisoners to ensure that the needs and placement of officers are in line with the level of prison security, the category of prisoners in a prison and rehabilitation needs.