Malaysian prisons angered by movie

Malaysian prisons angered by movie

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia's Prisons Department has lodged a police report against an American movie charging it depicts the Southeast Asian nation's prisons in a false light, a news report said.

Polygram Films, "Return to Paradise" tells the fictional story of an American man imprisoned on drug charges in Malaysia after a reckless vacation with two friends in the northern state of Penang.

Some scenes in the film, recently released in the United States, falsely depict wardens torturing prisoners who are locked in cells infested with rats and cockroaches and refused medical treatment, said Omar Mohamad Dan, director-general of Malaysia's prisons department.

Omar said the movie's producers were using the film to criticize Malaysia's prison and justice system, particularly its law that imposes the death penalty on drug traffickers.