Transcript of Media Doorstop by Assoc Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of National Development at Singapore Prison Service Institution A4

MOS: I’m here to observe the Psychological-based Correctional Programme. We have such programmes organised for female inmates to see  how they can develop themselves in their lives, know, love and respect themselves, as well as building  capacity, with regards to how they can develop their rehabilitation and reintegration journey. This is in addition to the many other programmes. I'm happy we are seeing significant improvements in their development as well as how we can strengthen their rehabilitation and reintegration.

With the programmes  as well as the support from the community, we are seeing significant improvement in recidivism rates for female inmates. For example, based on the 2021 release cohort, based on the two-year recidivism rate, it has gone down to 15.3%, from 20.7% for the 2017 release cohort. This is a very good improvement. We are seeing this downward trend over the years. This is something that we want to further motivate the female inmates in continuing this journey, supporting one another.

One part of the success for the significant reduction is due to the woman inmates themselves where they have a resolve and are committed to work very hard in their rehabilitation and reintegration journey. Many of them, both inmates and ex-offenders, seem to be very focused and attached to the programmes that they have undergone, both undertaken by Singapore Prison Service (SPS) as well as our partners.

We also note that the success is also due to the Gender Responsive Approach undertaken by SPS, where they tailor programmes to the specific needs of female inmates. I think this has been very useful. As I engaged with the female inmates, they shared with me that they feel connected to the programmes and feel that SPS understands their specific needs. They are able to discover more about themselves – their strengths as well as their weaknesses. This helps them as part of their rehabilitation and reintegration journey.

Secondly, we are also fortunate to have very good partners very committed ones, we have been journeying with them over the years. They look at various aspects of the work that we do - for example, the Women in Recovery Association (WIRA) looks at  the empowering of mothers. We have inmates who are mothers, I think they find it very refreshing for the programmes they have undertaken, looking at their responsibility, how they can cope with stress, how they can seek help and various aspects of it, and how they can get support. To me, these are very important, because when you go out, released from prison, you may face challenges. For some, it may be about addiction issues, but also your responsibilities to ensure your children are not affected by offending, as well as intergenerational reoffending.

We also have partners whose efforts complement the programmes organised by SPS. This includes New Life Stories and Salvation Army that provide niche programmes and there are many other organisations.

Beyond these programmes, we also find that the ex-offenders find support groups to be very important. These support groups provide a safe space and a conducive environment for ex-offenders to talk among themselves, discuss issues, strengthen their rehabiltation journey, and at the same time, seek support with regards to other aspects of their life. I had joined some of these sessions organised by HUFI and POPWOW where they not only provide the support, but they also encourage the ex-offenders to stay healthy, to stay active as part of their rehabilitation.

I'm happy that such efforts from all these various groups have resulted in a very positive outcome, in terms of a lower recidivism rate for female inmates and I hope that we can continue this journey. While we are seeing a significant reduction in the two-year recidivism rate, we also want to reduce the five-year recidivism rate which now stands at 30.2% for the 2018 cohort release, compared to the higher rate of around 32% for the 2014 release cohort. I think we have more opportunities, and we can do better to lower the five-year recidivism rate.

I feel that this journey that we have undertaken has been meaningful because it is not only providing opportunities for our female offenders to have better lives upon release as part of their rehabilitation and reintegration journey, but you can see the strengthening of the ecosystem of providing support for our female inmates.

CNA: Is there a timeline on reducing recividism i.e. is there a certain number we are working towards and over how many years?

MOS: Our recidivism rate is already one of the lowest in the world. So, when we look back on how we have journeyed through, we have started from very high – 30, 40, or even 50%. So, it has gone down significantly over the years, especially if you compared to back then in the 1980s. We feel that every point counts. Because every point in the reduction of recidivism rates means one, at least one or more inmates, having more time, spending more time outside prison and spending more time with their families and loved ones. So, we will work hard to get the lowest we can. To be honest with you, the work of rehabilitation and reintegration is tough. If you speak to the inmates, you speak to the partners, they will tell you it's very hard. Because a lot of it is not only from the outside, a lot of it is from the inside, e.g. your thoughts, which sometimes drive the things that you do. So, we want to continue to strengthen the ecosystem so that they will have more prosocial network and opportunities to keep them away from offending and reoffending.

CNA: Is there any programme in the works to further boost the support for the inmates’ rehabilitation?

MOS: We are strengthening the Desistor Network where we feel by getting ex-offenders involved in supporting one another, it actually helped themselves. So, we are encouraged by the number of organisations that have come  onboard, as well as the ex-inmates themselves, playing a very important role. Some will do it every week. Once a week, they will meet, and they will continue to support one another. Some will also be involved in various support groups and organisations. In this way, they realise that they can help many more people and in turn, help themselves and keep them on board the rehabilitation and reintegration journey. We will work hard in the Desistor Network and strengthen it. At the same time, we continue to explore pathways to strengthen their employment, strengthen the sectors that they can work with, and strengthen our effort to work with employers to provide meaningful and sustainable job opportunities for them. These are things that we have been very fortunate because of the work of our Yellow Ribbon movement which has enabled many more Singaporeans and organisations to have an accepting belief, attitude and culture, with regards to our ex-offenders. We will do more in this effort, and we want to help them as much as we can.