Malaysian prisons have been vastly overcrowded even before the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO), and now with MCO violators being sent to jail, things are only getting worse.

There are currently 73,000 prisoners being housed in 50 prison facilities nationwide that were only meant to hold 52,000 inmates.

In a leaked letter recently, the Prisons Department even told the courts to stop jailing people for violating MCO.

It said the move is causing overcrowding in prisons where social distancing is "impossible".