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Singapore Prisons and Rehabilitation Centers
In 1989 there were six types of correctional
institutions: two
maximum security prisons for males; three medium security
prisons
for males; one prison for females; four day-release camps;
one
reformative training center for persons between the ages
of sixteen
and twenty-one; and seven drug treatment centers.
Queenstown Remand
Prison, a short-term, maximum-security facility, served
two basic
functions: receiving and classifying newly convicted male
offenders
and holding persons awaiting trial or sentence. Changi
Prison, a
maximum security prison for males, was used for hardened
criminals
considered to be unlikely candidates for rehabilitation.
Political
prisoners detained under the Internal Security Act usually
were
also placed in the Moon Crescent Center within the Changi
complex.
Females convicted of crimes are thought to have been sent
to
separate maximum and medium security complexes.
All adult prisoners spent the last six months of their
sentence
in day-release centers. These prisoners were allowed to
spend days
at work and to visit their families without supervision.
The
purpose of the reformative training center for young
adults was to
provide rehabilitation. Sentences to this facility usually
were for
not less than eighteen months and not more than three
years.
Juveniles fifteen years old and under convicted of crimes
were sent
either to reform homes for girls or to reform schools for
boys.
Whereas persons convicted of importing and selling drugs
were
prosecuted as criminals and served time in prison, drug
abusers
usually did not go to jail. Singapore's Central Narcotics
Bureau
operated six rehabilitation centers and one anti-inhalant
abuse
center. Individuals who tested positive for drugs were
required to
spend up to six months in a rehabilitation center and
possible
additional time in halfway houses operated by the Central
Narcotics
Bureau.
In 1989 two privately operated programs attempted to
assist
prisoners and drug abusers find jobs and stay out of the
correctional system. The Singapore Corporation of
Rehabilitative
Enterprises operated job training programs in the prisons
and
managed day-release programs for the prisons. The
Singapore AntiNarcotics Association provided counseling for drug abusers
after
their release from rehabilitation centers. Although it did
not have
job training or placement programs, the association worked
closely
with the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative
Enterprises to
find employment for drug abusers and monitored their
progress after
placement.
Data as of December 1989
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