The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) is a government agency of the Government of Singapore under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The service runs 14 prisons and drug rehabilitation centres in Singapore. Its responsibilities encompass the safe custody, rehabilitation and aftercare of offenders, and preventive education.
History
1800 – 1899
On 18 April 1825, the first batch of penal convicts arrived in Singapore and were housed in temporary huts along the Bras Basah Canal and the philosophy of deterrence through punitive measures rather than rehabilitation was adopted. In 1847, a civil jail was built at Pearl's Hill but overcrowding remained a major issue and a continued punitive approach in prison management led to a high rate of recidivism.[citation needed]
1900 – 1999
In 1936 Changi Prison was opened and operational as a Maximum Security Prison and as a training ground for the reform and rehabilitation of its inmates.[citation needed] The Singapore Prison Service was institutionalised as a Department of the Singaporean Government in 1946 and G.E.W.W. Bayly became its first Commissioner. On 1 November 1973, Quek Shi Lei was appointed Director of Prisons.
The Ministry of Home Affairs set up a Prisons Re-Organisation Committee to review the system of rehabilitation, industrial training and work discipline. A new system of classification was then adopted in which inmates were grouped into 16 classes under three broad categories.
When Tee Tua Ba was posted to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) as Commissioner of Police on 1 July 1992, Poh Geok Ek took over the Directorship of Singapore Prison Service until 1 November 1998.
Another milestone in Singapore Prison Service's history was the official opening of Tanah Merah Prison and Changi Women's Prison/Drug Rehabilitation Centre on 23 April 1994 by Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng.
In 1998, Chua Chin Kiat took over as Director of Singapore Prison Service from Poh Geok Ek when the latter retired. Under Chua's directorship, the Singapore Prison Service organised a visioning exercise in January 1999 to collectively craft a shared vision and conduct a review of its mission to better accommodate the changing needs and expectations of its stakeholders and the public.
On 31 December 1999, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the redevelopment of Changi Prison Complex, Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng unveiled the new vision and revised mission together with the "Captain of Lives" tagline.[3]
2000 – Present
On 3 January 2000, Kaki Bukit Centre was established as a prison school for inmates' education and skills learning. Teaching resources were centralised and more inmates were able to pursue further education.
Changi Prison's main building (built 2000)
Presently, the new Changi Prison Complex houses the most serious criminal offenders in the country, including criminal offenders who are serving long sentences (including life imprisonment) and those who have been sentenced to death. The complex serves as the detention centre for death row inmates before they are executed by hanging, which traditionally takes place on a Friday morning. It is also where judicial corporal punishment by caning is carried out. Caning sessions at Changi are held twice a week.
The Yellow Ribbon Project was also launched on 2 October 2004 to raise public awareness and acceptance towards ex-offenders and support their re-integration into society.
On 1 November 2007, Ng Joo Hee took over office from Chua Chin Kiat, the latter moving on to become the executive director or AETOS Security Management. In the same year, Selarang Park Prison/DRC was also transformed to a community supervision centre to manage inmates emplaced on community based programmes and released on supervision.
After two years as Director of Prisons, Ng Joo Hee moved on to become the Commissioner of Police. On 1 January 2010, Soh Wai Wah took over office as Director of Prisons. Soh oversaw the official opening of a new prison cluster in Changi Prison Complex - Cluster B, on 20 January 2010.
On 10 December 2012, it was announced that a new S$118.5 million Prison Headquarters of the Changi Prison Complex will be constructed by December 2014. The project was awarded to Sembawang Engineers and Constructors (Sembawang), which is owned by the Punj Lloyd Group Company. The new headquarters will have four buildings and several smaller ancillary buildings that will house office facilities, a multi-purpose hall, a club house and an auditorium. It will also be in closer proximity to Cluster A and Cluster B within Changi Prison Complex.
In October 2016, Desmond Chin replaced Soh Wai Wah as Commissioner of Prisons.[4] Under his stewardship, SPS attained the Singapore Quality Award in 2019.[5] Chin also oversaw various initiatives under SPS’ 2025 transformation plans. This includes Prisons Without Guards, which leverages technology to automate mundane and routine tasks, and Prisons Without Walls, where more inmates are supervised in the community to support their reintegration into society.
On 28 September 2020, Ms Shie Yong Lee, former Deputy Commissioner of Prisons (Policy and Transformation), became SPS’ first female commissioner.[6]
Organisation
The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) is a uniformed organisation under the hierarchy of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Its responsibilities encompass the safe custody, rehabilitation and aftercare of offenders, and preventive education. SPS is made up of uniformed officers as well as civilian staff, including psychologists and counsellors
Organisation Structure
SPS currently administers 15 institutions. They make up SPS's line units and are grouped under five Commands – Cluster A and B contain five institutions each, which are situated within the Changi Prison Complex (CPC). Cluster C with two institutions is situated at the adjacent Tanah Merah Centre (TMC). The Community Corrections Command (COMC) oversees Lloyd Leas Community Supervision Centre (LLCSC), Community Rehabilitation Centre (CRC) and Selarang Halfway House (SHWH). In addition to them, the Operations and Security Command (OSC) oversees and manages CPC Security and the Prison Link Centres (PLCs).
SPS works towards its mission of ensuring the safe and secure custody of offenders and to rehabilitate them for a safer Singapore. Prison officers and SPS civilian staff, also known as Captains of Lives, contribute to this mission by equipping offenders with the right skills, attitude and values to become responsible citizens.[7]
Related Initiatives
CARE Network
The Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-Offenders (CARE) Network was formed in May 2000 to coordinate and to improve the effectiveness of various agencies engaging in rehabilitative works for ex-offenders in Singapore.
The CARE Network is the first formal structure that brings together key community and government agencies to promote seamless in-care to aftercare support for ex-offenders. The Network consists of 8 major community and government organisations responsible for the rehabilitation of ex-offenders.
Community-Based Programmes
Overseen by the Community Operations Command (COMC), Community-Based Programmes represent a step-down approach to help offenders make a seamless transition from incare to aftercare by allowing them to serve the tail-end of their sentences in the community. These include the Home Detention Scheme, Halfway House Scheme and Work Release Scheme, where offenders are supervised and counselled by officers from different community and government agencies. In 2018, there were 1,098 inmates on Community Based Programmes, an increase of 15.4 per cent from the year before.[8][9][10][11][12]
Technology
In 2017, SPS announced its Prison Without Guards transformation plan, which uses technology to enhance operational capabilities and enable prison officers to take up higher order jobs.
iKiosk (2015)
Rolled out to all institutions in October 2015, iKiosk has multiple functions that allow inmates to perform self-service tasks. This includes submitting administrative requests (for example, asking for extra letter-writing materials), checking the status of these requests and redeeming privileges.[13]
Digital Rehabilitation Records Management System (2017)
Launched as part of a pilot in Changi Prison Complex, the Digital Rehabilitation Records Management System automatically tracks inmate activities and attendance records through near field communications technology embedded within inmates’ wrist tags. Inmates can also make purchases by scanning their wrist tags at self-service vending machines.
Millimetre Wave Body Scanner (2017)
The Millimetre Wave Body Scanner is designed to screen and detect hidden or contraband objects under inmates’ clothing and reduce the reliance on physical searches.[14]
Avatar (2018)
Avatar is a human behaviour detection system that uses facial recognition technology and video analytics to recognise aggression and detect abnormal activities in the cell. The system triggers an alert within 15 to 30 seconds of detecting such actions, which could include violence, fighting or suicide attempts.[15][16][17]
DIRECT (2019)
Known as the Digitisation of Inmate Rehabilitation and Corrections Tool, DIRECT provides inmates with shared tablets that allow them to access apps such as e-books, e-news, e-letters and e-learning to support them in their rehabilitation.[14][13]
Equipment
Although the SPS officers are armed with less-than-lethal weapons such as the Monadnock PR-24 side handle baton/knightstick (more commonly known as the T-baton) and pepper spray while on duty, they are trained in firearms, which may be issued depending on the circumstances.
Filmed in partnership with the Singapore Prison Service, the local Singaporean drama serial follows the lives of prison officers and the challenges they face in their line of work.
The role of prison officer, Yu Zhen Fei, is played by Chen Hanwei.
Jesseca Liu plays the character of Zheng Yusheng, the lively and optimistic female protagonist of the show. Zheng Yusheng is a prison warden who happened to be born in jail.
Four friends convicted of arson were sentenced to imprisonment and three strokes of the cane each. The Singaporean television series was noted for briefly showing the caning scene.
A former juvenile delinquent, Tian Yi Bang, spent most of his youth in a rehabilitation centre. Subsequently, he committed robbery and was sentenced to jail. After his release 15 years later, he decided to turn over a new leaf and tries to encourage his son (born shortly after his sentencing) from going the same way as he did.
A 2005 Singaporean film by Jack Neo about the lives of three ex-offenders facing difficulties and rejection from the community after release from prison. The movie showcased the various challenges and social stigma the ex-offenders face in their reintegration journey. The movie was produced in association with the CARE Network and premiered at the start of YRP's 2005 campaign.
Directed by Singaporean director Boo Junfeng, the film stars Firdaus Rahman and Wan Hanafi Su as a young prisons officer and the chief executioner of the state prisons respectively. The film touches on the controversial death penalty from an executioner's point of view. The film features a fictionalized version of the Singapore Prisons Service.
Current affairs programmes
Tuesday Report (星期二特写)
A pastry workshop set up in Changi Prison, by 717 Trading, was featured in MediaCorp's long-running Chinese documentary programme, Tuesday Report on 18 September 2012. The workshop employs about 40 inmates to meet its business needs in refrigerating the flesh of the fruit as well as producing desserts with it.
A CNA Insider documentary that provides Singaporeans with never-before-seen footage of life behind Changi Prison Complex. It follows the lives of five inmates, put behind bars for a bevy of offences, all of whom are serving their time at B1 institution, Changi Prison's maximum security institution.[19]
