Avenues for Inmates Seeking Community, Legal or Government Assistance for their Families and Dependents

Question:

Ms Yeo Wan Ling: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what social support and assistance for seeking legal recourse is accessible to incarcerated Singaporeans to help a member of their family or dependant in need of community assistance, legal intervention or intervention from Government agencies.

Answer:

Assoc Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development:

1. Inmates may raise concerns about their family’s needs during their regular interviews with Prison Officers, who will refer these cases to SPS’ Family Resource Centres (FRCs). Family members may also approach the FRCs directly, which are located at the Prison Link Centre where family members go to visit the inmates. FRCs will work with the Ministry of Social and Family Development and community partners to look into the inmates’ requests.

2. In addition, inmates with children below 21 years old and elderly dependents above 60 years old are proactively identified by SPS under the Early Triaging Process upon their admission into prison. With the inmate’s consent, trained social workers from SPS’s FRCs will assess the family’s needs and refer them to appropriate community resources.

3. As for inmates who join the Yellow Ribbon Community Project, grassroots volunteers will engage their family members to offer befriending support and link them to community resources.