By Rosli Abidin Yahya
For every 100,000 people, Brunei
Darussalam locks away 120 convicted individuals behind bars, a
British survey on prison population shows.
Figures are almost similar to
those in Malaysia, where the ratio of people behind bars for
every 100,000 people is 121:100,000, according to figures from
the World Prison Population List released last month by
Britain's Home Office.
Singapore locks away 359
inmates per 100,000 people, while Japan (48), France (85) and
Australia (116).
The highest in the world is
USA, which tops the list of 205 countries with 686 inmates per
100,000 people. Similarly, Britain is considerably high (139).
About 60 per cent of the
countries surveyed show rates of below 150 per 100,000.
The report on Brunei Darussalam
figure suggests that it is a reflection of the retribution model
underlining the courts' sentencing policy.
"There are no
community-based penalties as in other countries. Being a
relatively peaceful country with little crime, the figure
demonstrates that criminals received jail penalties only and no
sentencing whereby criminals can do community services,"
observers said.
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