MP SPEAKS | Lives matter, including prisoners

MP SPEAKS | It is shocking to learn from the media that three prisoners were put together in the same cell as their inmate who later died from Covid-19 on Oct 5.

It grieved me to hear that the lives of prisoners are treated with no respect, care, or compassion. Regardless of their alleged crimes, the lives of prisoners matter, and it is our duty and responsibility to protect the right to life for prisoners.

We certainly do not want to wait for a prison riot to happen as what took place in Indonesia where prisoners protested on Apr 12. They rioted against crowded cells in Manado Penitentiary, on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, as they feared the spread of Covid-19.

The conditions in prisons are not only the issue of overcrowding in small prison cells but understaffing and lack of sufficient space to allow for social distancing. By cramping several prisoners into one cell is...