No House Arrest But A House Can Be A Prison

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THE law in Malaysia does not provide for house arrest. But a house can be a prison.
Hafiz Hassan, TMI
Reference may be made to Section 2 of the Prison Act 1995 and related sections of the act, which is a law to consolidate and amend the laws relating to prisons, prisoners and related matters.
Section 2 defines prison as “any house, building, enclosure or place, or any part thereof, declared to be a prison under Section 3 and shall include the grounds and buildings within the prison enclosure and also the airing grounds or other grounds or buildings belonging or attached thereto and used by prisoners.”
Section 3 empowers the minister, by notification in the gazette, to declare “any house, building, enclosure or place, or any part thereof, to be a prison for the purposes of this Act for the imprisonment or detention of persons lawfully in custody and may in like manner declare that any such prison shall cease to be a prison for the purposes of this Act.”
The first declaration under Section 3 was in 1998 in respect to the area in Lot 868 of Mukim Kamunting, district of Larut Matang, Perak, which was designated as Kamunting Prison – PU(B) 124/1998. Since then, there has been a number of declarations, among others, in 2000 (Pudu Prison – PU(B) 394/2000), 2002 (Kajang Prison – PU(B) 84/2002; Illegal Immigrant Detention Depot in Tanah Merah, Kelantan – PU(B) 369/2002).
This year, the first declaration of the year was in respect of “all buildings and areas situated on Lot 103 and Lot 135311787, Mukim of Kindassan, District of Keningau, Sabah” to be named as “Sekolah Henry Gurney Keningau, Sabah” – PU(B) 16/2024.
Section 4 makes provisions for temporary prisons. This is where it appears to the commissioner general of prison (CGP) –
(a) that the number of prisoners in a prison is greater than can be reasonably kept in the prison and that it is not convenient to transfer the excess number to another prison; or
(b) that by reason of an outbreak within a prison of a disease or for any other reason which renders it necessary to provide for the temporary shelter and safe custody of any prisoner, the CGP may, with the approval of the Minister, direct in writing for the shelter and safe custody in temporary prisons of so many of the prisoners as cannot be conveniently or safely kept in the prison – Section 4(1).
A temporary prison as directed or ordered above is a prison for the purposes of the Act – Section 4(2). The direction or order is only for a period not exceeding three months – Section 4(4) – which may, with the approval of the Minister, be extended for further periods not exceeding three months at any one time and such extensions shall not in any event exceed a total period of nine months – Section 4(5).
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