Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Processing Time for Hardcopy Correspondences from Lawyers and E-Letters to Be Delivered to Prison Inmates in the Past Three Years

Question:

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the past three years, what is the average processing time for (i) hardcopy correspondences from lawyers and (ii) e-Letters, to be delivered to prison inmates respectively; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider introducing a separate e-Letters system with a shorter processing time that lawyers can use to correspond with prison inmates.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1.  On average, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) takes five working days to process hardcopy correspondences from lawyers, well within the service standard of ten working days. SPS facilitates urgent requests on a best effort basis.

2. The average processing time for incoming e-letters is two days. The system was designed for families and friends to correspond with inmates, but SPS is considering whether enhancements can be made to also offer this as a mode of communication between lawyers and their inmate clients.