11 foreign juveniles serving sentences in Henry Gurney schools

0

KOTA KINABALU: As of October 2012, there were 11 foreign juveniles including a girl serving their sentences in the State Prison’s Department Henry Gurney schools.

According to the department’s Deputy Superintendent Kalbin Mohd Said, they were from the Philippines and Indonesia.

The 10 boys, two Indonesians and eight Filipinos, are now in Henry Gurney school for boys together with 204 locals in Keningau, while the girl, a Filipina is residing in the Henry Gurney school for girls in the state capital.

Kalbin, who was recalled to give his statement to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah yesterday, said the state Prison’s Department also allows the juveniles to complete their education while serving their sentences.

They are also allowed to sit for the Malaysian government examinations, he said, adding that the government pays for the locals’ examination fees.

“If they score good results, we, the Prison Department Visitor Judge Board, will recommend the individual for early release so that he or she can go for further studies. Early release will also depend on the individual’s behavior while in school,” he said.

Kalbin also told the panel that the management cost for each inmate at the schools is RM33 a day, the same as that of the adult prisoners in the state prisons.

He said that since 2007, the state Prisons Department has spent RM614,355 on the foreign juveniles sent to Henry Gurney.