FEBRUARY 10 — Singapore’s Prisons Act 1933 has undergone at least three major amendments in the last 25 years.
The first in 2000 introduced a home detention scheme. At the second reading of the Prisons (Amendment) Bill 2000, the home minister said:
“[A]mendments to the Prisons Act are now necessary to enhance the effectiveness of our Prisons Service and offer our penal population with more rehabilitation opportunities… [T]he main set of amendments … are related to the introduction of Tail-End Home Detention for penal inmates.”
The minister informed the House that an Inter-Ministry Committee to examine the feasibility of introducing Community-Based Sentences into the country’s criminal justice system was formed in 1998 which recommended the introduction of Tail-End Home Detention, Boot Camp, Community Service Orders and Re-integrative Shaming.
While mindful that the use of community-based sentences should not compromise the objectives of the penal regime, or give the victim or the public the impression that system was becoming lenient towards perpetrators of crimes, there was scope in the criminal justice system for lighter sentencing options with a greater rehabilitative element for those who commit relatively minor offences, and first-time offenders.
This was especially so if there were mitigating circumstances.
That paved the way for amendments to the Prisons Act to provide for, among others, what is now known as the Home Detention Scheme (HDS). Such a scheme is not new and has been implemented at the tail-end of the detention period for drug inmates and detainees released onto statutory supervision.
Countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia have successfully implemented HDS which serves as an avenue for the earlier release of prisoners who are most amenable to rehabilitation. Its implementation serves a number of purposes.
Firstly, allowing the offender to be closer to his family and the community will help him to better reintegrate into society after incarceration. The deterrent element is still retained as offenders will be subjected to restrictions and surveillance via electronic tagging.
Secondly, as this scheme allows offenders to remain in the community, it keeps the families intact and allows offenders to be gainfully employed. Reactions to the HDS, especially those from families of offenders, have been positive.
Provisions on HDS can now be found in Part 6 of the Prisons Act where under Section 52 the Commissioner may, for the purpose of facilitating a prisoner’s rehabilitation and reintegration into society, by order release a prisoner who is eligible for home detention for a period not exceeding 12 months or any other period that the home minister may, by notification in the Gazette, prescribe in substitution.
The order is known as Home Detention Order (HDO), which in common parlance is a house arrest, where the prisoner is kept confined to his home with strict curfews.
A prisoner is eligible for HDO if he:
- is serving a sentence for at least 4 weeks;
- has served at least 14 days of that sentence;
- has not been previously released under HDO for the same sentence;
- is not serving a sentence for life imprisonment;
- has not been convicted for a capital offence;
- is not liable to be deported from Singapore upon completion of his sentence; and
- is not convicted for, among other offences, at least one of the following offences:
- trafficking of drugs;
- attempting to escape;
- unlicensed moneylending;
- rioting with or without a deadly weapon;
- culpable homicide not amounting to murder;
- attempt to murder;
- voluntarily causing grievous hurt; and
- outraging modesty (in certain circumstances).
The home minister has the discretion to order HDO if the minister considers that the prisoner is deserving of HDO, having regard to the circumstances of the case, including the following factors:
- the prisoner’s progress and rehabilitation in prison;
- the prisoner’s family support; and
- the risk of recidivism by the prisoner.
The above explains why Singapore’s former transport minister S. Iswaran was placed on HDS on February 7.
He is serving a 12-month sentence and has served four months in jail since he began his sentence on October 7, 2024.
Singapore’s former transport minister S. Iswaran was placed on HDS on February 7. — Reuters pic
This month is the 25th anniversary of the passing of the law on HDS in Singapore. House arrest in Malaysia, however, has been much talked about and much hyped.
In October last year (the same month Iswaran was sentenced), Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that a Bill (proposed law) on house arrest was expected to be tabled in Parliament this year.
Will it be much ado about nothing?
When the law on house arrest is absent, perhaps that explains why former prime minister Najib Razak is seeking judicial review of a purported addendum which would enable him to be placed on house arrest.
