The National Assembly does not agree to allow prisoners to work outside prison.

On the morning of May 29, the National Assembly collected opinions from delegates via the electronic system on two contents of the Draft Law on the Execution of Criminal Sentences (amended), including the Regulations on organizing labor for prisoners outside prison, stipulated in Article 33 of the Draft Law.

Accordingly, 424 delegates gave their opinions (87.60%), of which 234 delegates agreed (48.35%), 180 delegates disagreed (37.19%), and 10 delegates did not give their opinions (2.07%).

Voting results show that this regulation has not been approved by more than 50% of the total number of National Assembly delegates.

Previously, at the discussion session on May 22, the Regulation allowing prisons to coordinate with businesses, organizations and individuals to organize labor for prisoners and to organize production areas and labor points outside prisons received many comments from National Assembly delegates.

Supporting the draft regulation, delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy - Standing Member of the Judiciary Committee analyzed that organizing labor is not only for rehabilitation but also very necessary for the goal of prisoners reintegrating into the community later. Because people who have been in prison for many years, when they finish their prison term and return to society, have difficulty finding a job, feel inferior, have low self-esteem and a high risk of reoffending.

According to the female delegate, recently, the Ministry of Public Security has piloted the organization of labor outside the camp and the labor sites are all designed according to the camp model, with fences, separate from residential areas. The pilot results help diversify occupations, jobs, vocational training, and career changes. According to the Ministry of Public Security, out of nearly 7,000 prisoners working outside the camp, only 1 prisoner escaped.

Some delegates said that prisons are often isolated from residential areas, so prisoners working outside is not a real threat to the community.

In addition, many delegates expressed disagreement with the provisions as drafted. Delegate Nguyen Mai Bo - Standing Member of the National Defense and Security Committee raised the issue of legality, whether these provisions exceed the scope of the Penal Code or not.

“The Penal Code stipulates that prisoners must serve their sentences at detention facilities for a certain period of time. Enterprises are not detention facilities, so designing labor outside the camp exceeds the provisions of the Penal Code. The provisions here are the mechanism for implementing the provisions of the Penal Code, so they need to be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Code,” said Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo.

Delegate Nguyen Ba Son - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Da Nang city did not object to including this content in the law but suggested that a series of legal issues must be resolved.

Mr. Son raised the issue and cited many regulations in the Penal Code, such as the regulation requiring prisoners to serve their sentences at detention facilities, so the execution of the sentence must achieve this goal.

“On what basis does the draft give the prison the right to take prisoners out of the detention facility? The report of the Ministry of Public Security is that the enterprise organizes a workplace according to the prison design model, with full facilities to ensure security requirements. I wonder what this design is, is it a prison or a construction site or a factory? How to resolve the relationship between employees and employers? We cannot pass an institution without regulations” - the delegate of Da Nang delegation expressed his opinion./.