Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Open Visits for Inmates, by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) for each year in the past five years, what is the average number of open visits which an inmate has with their childrens; and (b) whether there are plans to increase the number of open visits which an inmate can have with their children.

Answer:

1. In the past five years, an average of around 1,500 inmates each year participated in structured family programmes which have an open visit component. However, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) does not track the number of open visits individual inmates have with their children.

2. SPS will extend such programmes to more inmates.