The government is considering a House Arrest Act to address prison overcrowding, with the proposed legislation primarily targeting eligible remand detainees awaiting trial, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
The proposal, which the Home Ministry has been pursuing since 2024, would allow courts to place qualifying remand detainees under house arrest with electronic monitoring until their trials.
Serious criminal cases would be excluded from the proposed mechanism.
Saifuddin explained that prison overcrowding stems from a combination of convicted inmates serving sentences and remand detainees who have either been denied bail or are unable to post bail while awaiting trial.
Malaysia currently has 41 prisons housing about 93,000 people, against a total capacity of 75,000, he noted.
Under the proposed law, eligible remand detainees could remain at home while their movements are monitored electronically until their court proceedings conclude.
The minister added that the Cabinet had given in-principle approval for the Home Ministry to begin drafting the legislation for tabling in Parliament.
The proposed Act is intended to reduce prison overcrowding and improve the management of the country’s correctional system, he said.
