Nora (fourth from left), Katherine (middle), Charles (fourth from right) and Wil-liam (third from right) tossing the yee sang to celebrate the Chinese New Year during the Jalinan Kasih programme at Kota Kinabalu Women’s Prison.
KOTA KINABALU: More young Sabahans are ending up in prison each year in Sabah, said State Prisons Department deputy director PKP Nora Musa.
She said the past 18 years had reflected the worrying growth.
For Kota Kinabalu Women’s Prison in Kepayan alone, all 31 juveniles are East Malaysians and most hail from this city whilst three are Sarawakians, she said.
Nora said most of the juveniles are in prison for drug related offences, while 200 adults in the women prison include 70% foreigners who are mainly imprisoned for illegal entry.
“I am worried. When interviewing the juveniles, we found out that drugs are sold at the side of the schools,” she said during the Chinese New Year themed Jalinan Kasih Programme at the Kota Kinabalu Women’s Prison in Kepayan yesterday.
“It is easy to get. That is the fact. Those in other career paths may be able to accept but we who are involved directly are worried because we are aware of the drug threat faced by the society every day,” said Nora.
She said local inmates also ended up in prison for criminal breach of trust and and baby dumping.
“This shows that in the past, not many locals committed crime but maybe due to urbanization the numbers have increased.
“We feel the increase is also linked to the country’s economic situation. Families, especially big ones, might be impacted by high cost of living,” said the deputy director.
According to Sabah Board of Visiting Justices member and Female Prison chairman William Gohumpu, a series of interviews held among inmates in the last several years showed that drug activity had penetrated rural Sabah.
“It has reached the villages and no longer constrained to big towns like Papar, Beaufort and Sandakan,” said Gohumpu.
“You will be surprised it is easy to get drugs in Beaufort, Keningau, Ranau and Tambunan villages,” he added.
Another member and Henry Gurney Sabah chairman Charles Chong said the series of interviews held amongst inmates also revealed that money had lured youngsters to drugs.
“From the interviews, we found they were involved in drugs due to neighbours, surrounding, or curiousity. Most of the time it is money,” said Chong.
“Especially with parents not looking after the children, the poor children will be targeted,” he added.
Sabah Board of Visiting Justices secretary Datuk Katherine M O Lee was also present at the event.