Predicaments in prisoners’ institutional rehabilitation for parole release: Some evidence from Malaysia

Abstract

Institutional rehabilitation is significant because the Parole Board’s decision in releasing a prisoner would depend on the rehabilitation report. Such rehabilitation programmes and assessment have been implemented by rehabilitation officers with considerable challenges. This article reports the findings on such challenges in five local prisons in Malaysia. The primary data were obtained from qualitative interviews with prison rehabilitation officers, parole officers, prisoners, and Parole Board members. The findings reveal that these operational predicaments reconnected not only to the officers’ role, qualification, expertise, and professionalism but also to the policies and priorities of their respective prisons.