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SINGAPORE: The Home Affairs Ministry and the Law Ministry want to introduce new sentencing options this year by amending the Criminal Procedure Code. These include short detention stints lasting two weeks.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng announced this at the official opening of a new cluster of facilities at the Changi Prison Complex.
New facilities like this computer lab at the Singapore Prison Service's Pre-Release Centre will help offenders get back on their feet.
Soh Wai Wah, director of Prisons, said: "The centre aims to adequately prepare all inmates for their return to the community, by equipping them with the relevant knowledge and skills."
At the Changi Prison Complex, inmates who are about to complete their sentence go through a basic computer course to enhance their employability before they are released back into society.
Besides such programmes, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Law Ministry is working with various agencies to implement new sentencing options.
These include mandatory treatment orders that require offenders to undergo psychiatric treatment of up to two years, which the Health Ministry and Institute of Mental Health will take care of, in lieu of imprisonment.
Prisons will implement short detention orders which will give first time low-risk offenders a short experience of the rigors of detention for up to 14 days.
Mr Wong said: "The Day Reporting Order will require the offender to report regularly to a Reporting Centre managed by Prisons, undergo programmes and be electronically tagged, where necessary, for up to 12 months."
Also, the Community Service Order as a standalone sentencing option will be expanded to include adults. MHA said this will allow a wider range of options to be available so as to match the punishment to the crime.
- CNA/sc
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