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KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- As many as 127 juveniles, or those under the age of 18, are being locked up in jails in the country.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said, according to statistics from the Prisons Department, 93 were remanded or waiting for trial, while 34 were convicted of several offences.

"Out of the 93 who were remanded, 80 are males and the rest females. They were arrested for offences under the Immigration Act, Dangerous Drugs Act, National Registration Regulation, Penal Code, and others.

"Among the 34 who were convicted of several offences, 24 are males and 10 females. All 127 juveniles have been placed in 16 jails located around the country," he said at the Dewan Negara, here Wednesday.

He was answering a question from Senator Saripah Aminah Syed Mohamed who wanted to know the number of juveniles awaiting trial according to gender.

Replying to a supplementary question from Saripah Aminah regarding efforts to educate rather than to punish prisoners, which was being practised in Singapore, Wan Ahmad Farid said the approach used by the Prisons Department was not only to punish but also to provide rehabilitation.

"The Prisons Department has a rehabilitation programme for juveniles like those in developed nations," he said.

He added that the juvenile rehabilitation programme was divided into three phases: the first is an orientation phase to build discipline (duration of 3 months), the second phase is to strengthen the personality (duration of 6 months to a year) and the third is the pre-release in society phase.

Meanwhile, while answering a question from Senator Wan Hazani Wan Mohd Nor, Wan Ahmad Farid said the police had the right not to produce a police report made if the action can affect and disrupt the investigation under Section 107A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

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