KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur Bar Criminal Practice Committee is trying to get prisoners to “turn over a new leaf” by turning pages in a book, that is.

It is collecting reading materials for inmates in Sg Buloh prison as part of a rehabilitation programme.
Chairman Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu said the “Prison Books Campaign” launched last month was aimed at educating prisoners and making them better members of the society.

“This is because reading makes a person. It will be an eye opener for the inmates. We want to cultivate a reading habit among them and help them fill their free time,” he said.

The committee, he added, had started collecting all types of reading materials for the prisoners, including novels and magazines.

“We started this campaign by collecting magazines and books from our members.

“We launched the project after inmates expressed their wishes to have more reading materials,” he said in an interview.

Baljit said the Bar intended to supply these materials to be placed at the prison's library.

“We will channel the materials to the Sungai Buloh prison and these will then be distributed accordingly to meet the prisoners' needs,” he said.

The project, which will be conducted with the cooperation of prison authorities, was mainly aimed at inmates between the ages of 17 and 40, added Baljit.

“This is our contribution to the prison authorities in their rehabilitation programmes.

“Anybody interested in donating their magazines and books can go to the KL Bar secretariat at Wisma Kraftangan in Jalan Tun Perak,” he said