Since coming out of prison a year ago after being jailed for sedition, Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P Uthayakumar has pledged to work towards improving conditions in prisons nationwide.

Today, he took the first step towards keeping that pledge by filing a notice of motion to have the government form a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into the matter.

He filed the application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court where he named Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, his deputy and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as respondents.

Others named included the director-general of the Prisons Department Zulkifli Omar, the director of Kajang Prison Abdul Wahab Kassim, the attorney-general and government as respondents.

Uthayakumar had previously cited the horrors he and other inmates faced when in prison.

In his motion, he proposed the respondents to request the Yang di Pertuan Agong to form the RCI, to be either headed by him or a human rights lawyer to investigate complaints he had made and to improve conditions of prisons nationwide.

Uthayakumar was jailed for two years after being convicted by the Court of Appeal for writing a seditious letter to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown regarding the plight of the Indian community in 2007.

Among the declarations that he seeks is that inmates be given treatment by doctors and specialists for their ailments, and that the medical reatment of inmates be done according to the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as adopted by the UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders.

Soaps, toothbrushes shared

He is also seeking that prisoners who posses contagious ailments, such as tuberculosis, AIDS or Hepatitis B, be separated from other inmates. Uthayakumar who is also a lawyer, said that while he was in Kajang Prison, 500 inmates had to share one nail clipper.

He wants a declaration that juvenile inmates and transvestites be separated from other regular inmates. For transvestites, he wants women warden officers to be allocated for them.

He is also seeking a declaration that Muslims not be subjected to face the kiblat with the toilet in front of them in the cell.

Uthayakumar told reporters that when in prison, there was truly a '1Malaysia' spirit as inmates helped one another, regardless of race.

“If you want to see the spirit of 1Malaysia, you will see it there,” said the lawyer, adding that inmates were required to also share bath soaps and toothbrushes.