Phnom Penh: The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Justice, Chin Malin, has said that the Ministry of Justice needs quality human resources and sufficient funding to address the problem of congestion and overcrowding in prisons. The Spokesperson made this statement while speaking at a press conference on the achievements made by the Ministry of Justice in the past 5 years on Friday morning.

Justice Ministry Spokesperson, Chin Malin, said that in order to avoid case congestion and overcrowding in prisons, the Ministry of Justice needs to address extracurricular issues, however, a lack of judicial infrastructure resources in informal settlements also further contribute to case congestion in courts.

He said, "Cases become congested due to insufficient negotiation or out-of-court settlements. So even small cases at the grassroots level hit the courts. A simple case of stealing chickens and ducks also comes to court. Do our courts have enough resources, materials, and people to solve all these issues?"

The Spokesperson said that increasing human resources is not about quantity, but rather, it is more about improving the quality, virtuousness, and ethics of professional human resources who have been selected by the Ministry of Justice to participate in professional training courses.

Court congestion and overcrowding in prisons have long been a problem in Cambodia, and the government has worked to address these issues by setting up working groups to address all systems and create more prisons. In particular, the government has been working on the reform of the judiciary for the common good of the people, especially to allow the public to understand and participate in the implementation of the law properly.

A total of 683 prisoners have asked to have their sentences reduced during the Water Festival. A total of nearly 40,000 prisoners currently in Cambodia, with most cases involving drugs.