Kuala Lampur, March 7 -- About a year ago, I had already written that a house can be a prison.

So, I'm not surprised by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman's statement in Parliament on Thursday (March 6) that Section 3 of the Prisons Act 1995 empowers the home minister to designate any premises, including a residential property, as a prison.

"This section empowers the minister overseeing prison matters, in this case the home minister, to designate any residence, buildings or premise as a prison for the purpose of detaining someone who was sentenced to incarceration," she said.

"In other words, the minister has the power to designate a home as a valid premise to incarcerate a prisoner subject to all the...