The Prisons Department wants more inmates serving lenient sentences to be granted parole and allowed to undergo community-based rehabilitation process as it can bring about positive changes in them.

Its deputy director-general (community) Ibrisam Abdul Rahman said their statistics showed that of the total number of inmates who had undergone community-based rehabilitation, only 0.4 percent returned to criminal activity compared to those who had served their time in prison, which made up 13 percent.