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SINGAPORE: The Committee of Inquiry (COI) that was formed to look into Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader Mas Selamat Kastari's escape has recommended that a new detention centre for internal security detainees be built in Changi Prison.
This is one of several recommendations made to prevent a recurrence of such an incident.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said the Director of the Internal Security Department (ISD) and the Director of Prisons will co-chair a team to study the implementation details for the new facility.
Mr Wong said: "The COI's recommendation to shift the detention centre to the Changi Prison Complex will, among other things, ensure that security and prison operating standards of the detention centre are always tied to best practices.
"At the same time, ISD can tap (the) Prison's medical and food logistics for its detainees. However, and let me emphasise this, careful thought must be given to how to operationalise this plan to ensure that it meets ISD's needs, while at the same time not undermine (the) Prison's operating regime.
"Among other things, we definitely do not want to expose the prison inmate population to 'contamination' by extremist detainees. This has been the bad experience in many countries where prisons have been one of the most fertile sources of new terrorist recruits."
The COI has also recommended that the ISD assumes overall command and control of the Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC) and that frontline officers should hold regular exercises and security audits.
The committee also put forth the suggestion that there should be better coordination and communication among the Gurkhas, ISD and the management of the centre.
And even though the COI has found no evidence of connivance, collusion or assistance given to Mas Selamat by any individual who could have aided him in his escape from WRDC, the possibility that the JI detainee had secured help after his escape has not been dismissed.
The home affairs minister also briefed Parliament on Monday on the outcome of separate investigations conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the ISD.
Mr Wong said: "The CID investigation has been completed with extensive interviews and forensic examination of the site. Polygraph tests were also administered to some witnesses to support investigation. The CID has found no evidence to suggest collusion on the part of any of the ISD officers, WRDC staff or guards involved.
"The CID submitted its investigation papers to the Attorney General's Chambers to determine if any offences have been committed. I am informed that the Attorney-General has considered the investigation papers and concluded that there is no basis to lay criminal charges against any individual.
"In my view, while the COI and the CID investigations found no malice or criminal liability on the part of any officer implicated in Mas Selamat's escape, there is no avoiding the fact that the escape would not have happened but for the security and operational lapses identified by the COI.
"Complacency for whatever reason – be it fatigue given the protracted security operations by ISD since 2001 or routinisation over time – had crept into the operating culture at WRDC. That no detainee had escaped from WRDC before may have been one reason why an escape was unimaginable in the minds of those who run WRDC.
"Even when the guards became concerned over the time Mas Selamat was taking in the toilet, they did not think that he might have escaped."
As to why the COI could not conduct its proceedings publicly, Mr Wong explained that it was to protect the intelligence personnel and their operational systems which are highly classified and sensitive.
That is why the government has decided to only release an Executive Summary of the full report.
He said: "Exposing these details in public would compromise the persons and processes involved in our security and intelligence operations, and put these operations at risk. Holding the inquiry out of public view enabled the COI to have the full and unfettered access needed to fulfil their mission and establish the full facts.
"We had also considered releasing the COI's report with the sensitive parts blacked out. But that was not feasible as the details are extensive. It would not only make understanding the report difficult, but also fuel the distraction of baseless speculation."
- CNA/so
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