MCO offenders not recorded as convicts - Prisons DG

Individuals who were sent to prison after being found guilty of violating the Movement Control Order (MCO) will not be registered as convicts, said Prisons director-general Datuk Seri Zulkifli Omar.

He said some MCO violators sent to jail were youths and their future would be ruined if they were regarded as convicts.

"When it is entered into (prison) records, it will be difficult for them to find jobs (after their release). On that basis, they will not be recorded as convicts," he told reporters after the Ziarah Sahabat Penjara programme at the Kajang Prison today.

Earlier, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador confirmed that the names of MCO offenders would not be entered into the Royal Malaysia Police criminal record system.

Abdul Hamid said, however, the non-registration of the offence was not a "ticket" for the people to defy the MCO, which was implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Zulkifli said 11 temporary prisons throughout the country were being used as new detention centres, with more than 300 individuals housed at the Kajang Prison and Malaysian Prisons College Temporary Prison.

-- BERNAMA