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My Paper, 03 July 2009

Family support crucial to inmates

We refer to the letter by Mr. Jeffrey Law Lee Beng, “Give inmates more time with family” (my paper, July 3)

We would like to clarify that most inmates are entitled to two family visits each month.

These are conducted face-to-face at the various institutions or via teleconferencing facilities at the Prison Link Centres located at Jurong East, Toa Payoh and Changi.

The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) recognises that strong family support is crucial in encouraging inmates to lead their lives responsibly.

Family acceptance provides an emotional driver to sustain their motivation to stay crime- and drug-free, and creates a fitting environment for successful reintegration after their release.

Encouraging stronger family support is part of SPS’s holistic approach to the rehabilitation and reintegration process for inmates.

Hence, for deserving inmates who have demonstrated behavioural improvement, SPS grants visiting opportunities on special occasions such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Inmates who express their desire to change for the better through platforms such as the recent Yellow Ribbon Art Competition and Cooking Competition also earned the opportunity to spend extra time with their loved ones.

Additionally, SPS has also implemented several programmes which give well-behaved and lower security-risk inmates opportunities to expedite successful family and societal reintegration.

For instance, the Home Detention Scheme allows deserving inmates to spend the tail-end of their sentence at home with their families, while being engaged at work.

This promotes a gradual reintegration process and the greater involvement of family members in the rehabilitation process.

We thank Mr. Law for his support of giving deserving inmates and former offenders a second chance.

We agree with him that we need to give those who are willing to change a chance to turn over a new leaf.

As the Yellow Ribbon Campaign will be held in September this year, we encourage like-minded Singaporeans to demonstrate their acceptance of former offenders by participating in upcoming activities such as the inaugural Yellow Ribbon Prison Run.

Mr Matthew Wee
Senior Assistant Director
Public Affairs
Singapore Prison Service

The Straits Times, 10 June 2009

Society’s help vital for ex-offenders

I refer to Mr Low Choon Zhu’s letter, “One bold step to erase stigma” (June 10), in which he correctly identified the social stigma that is attached to criminal convictions as a key challenges confronting ex-offenders trying to make good. The successful reintegration of ex-offenders requires the wider society’s constant support.

The Singapore Prison Service takes a systematic and holistic approach towards offenders’ rehabilitation and eventual reintegration into the community. For instance, suitably motivated offenders can choose to pursue formal education while still in prison, healthy sporting activities as part of their recreation. Prisons also work closely with the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE) to enhance the employability skills of offenders during incarceration so that they have a better chance of finding work after release.

We adopt a “many helping hands” approach to the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders. The programmes inside prison are supplemented by programmes conducted by social service organisations for offenders after they leave prison.

Community support and a welcoming environment are vital for ex-offenders trying to stay on the straight and narrow. Families and employers who are willing to accept ex-offenders amendable to change help to create much needed stability for ex-offenders to remain crime-free. Underpinning all thism, must be the personal motivation and determination of ex-offenders to restart their lives.

We are heartened that the Yellow Ribbon Project has been instrumental in reshaping public perception, to one that will accept that offenders and ex-offenders can also become contributing citizens.

This year’s Yellow Ribbon Project will focus on how offenders and ex-offenders can play an active role in “giving back” to society. Mr Low has suggested that we organise sports events for prisoners, like the French prisoners’ version of Tour de France.

The organisers have planned for an inaugural Yellow Ribbon Prison Run this year. While we are unable to allow prisoners to participate in this run for security reasons, we do encourage ex-offenders to take part, with members of public, to support the Yellow Ribbon cause.

We hope Mr Low will join us at the various Yellow Ribbon activities in September. For more information on the activities, please visit www.yellowribbon.org.sg.

Mr Matthew Wee
Senior Assistant Director
Public Affairs
Singapore Prison Service

The Straits Times, 26 March 2009

I refer to Mr Fong Xiongkun's feedback on Monday, "Recidivism rates are of little use if not tied to a timescale". Mr Fong is correct that recidivism rates should be tracked within a realistic timeframe.

The recidivism rate adopted by Singapore Prison Service (SPS) is defined as the percentage of local inmates detained, convicted and imprisoned again for a new offence within two years from their release.

Sps uses a two-year timeframe to track recidivism, like many correctional systems in developed economies, such as those in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Matthew Wee
Senior Assistant Director
Public Affairs
Singapore Prison Service

Inmates have sufficient opportunities to interact and keep in touch with loved ones

We thank Mr Lionnel Lim for his interest and support in the rehabilitation of offenders.

The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) recognises the importance of family and community support in the reintegration process. While most inmates are granted two visits and may also send two letters every month, there is no limit to the number of letters each inmate can receive. Family members and friends are thus able to keep in touch with their loved ones in prisons. These opportunities for interaction will prepare the inmates for reintegration back into society. We will consider requests from inmates to send additional letters on a case-by-case basis based on compassionate grounds.

We thank the community for their support in the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into society.

We refer to M Lukshumayeh's feedback. Mr Lukshumayeh has rightly written that genuine trust and belief are sources of strength for an ex-offender, and this is what the Yellow Ribbon Project aims to achieve.

The project was launched in a nation-wide drive in 2004, and aims to raise community awareness of the needs of ex-offenders to aid their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

We wish to address Mr Lukshumayeh's perceptions of the three-year guideline. Security guidelines are indeed imposed on persons entering or having access to prison premises, which are high security locations. This policy exists for the practical reasons mentioned above.

Ex-offenders are allowed access should they need to visit members of their family who are incarcerated. When access into prison premises is required for their work, ex-offenders who were released less than three years before can be allowed to enter, subject to approval from the Prisons management.

In the case of ex-offenders who seek to volunteer to help inmates in prison, we impose a three-year guideline because our experiences, both locally and overseas, have shown that successful reintegration of such ex-offenders can usually be measured in a two-to-five-year time frame.

As such, we do not think of it appropriate to deploy recently released prisoners to counsel inmates before their own reintegration into society is more certain.

If they wish to contribute to society during this period, they can volunteer, as many ex-offenders do, with other community organisations to assist the needy in society.

I refer to the letter by Mr Tan Chak Lim, "Spare minor offenders rigours of prison regime" (ST, Sep 13).

The Singapore Prison Service regularly reviews its rehabilitation programmes for inmates who wish to turn over a new leaf. To do this, the community’s involvement in helping ex-offenders is critical.

We recognise that imprisonment can have long-term detrimental effects on the young, both mentally and psychologically, and it was with that understanding that we expanded the Home Detention Scheme recently to offer it to those who committed minor offences.

The newly-introduced Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) regime was also extended to first-time synthetic-drug abusers as many of these are young people.

In this regard, we thank Mr Tan for his support of the expansion of the Home Detention Scheme and our intention to expand the drug rehabilitation regime to cover abusers of synthetic drugs.

We would also like to clarify that a person who is committed to a drug rehabilitation centre does not have a criminal record registered against him.

I refer to Mr See Leong Kit’s letter, “Reassessment needed of high-cost public expenditures” (Sept 6). The Singapore Prison Service currently runs a total of 14 institutions, out of which 10 were converted from disused buildings. They take up a lot of land and are inefficient to operate. By consolidating its operations in a new multi-storey development, the department has been able to free up 57 hectares of land and achieve economies of scale.

We wish to assure the writer that the new prisons being built at Changi are designed with cost considerations in mind, while maintaining an optimal level of security for the safe custody and rehabilitation of the prisoners