Singapore to start guard-free prisons

Singapore Prison Service outlines plans to make prisons guards free with the help of technology

The Singapore Prison Service has outlined initiatives to make prisons guards free with the help of technology.

At a ceremony held at the Singapore Expo, the department announced that it planned to combine an upgraded prison-management system with the Prison Operations and Rehabilitation Systems [PORTS], launched in September 2016, that allows officers to access data through their mobile phones to ease the control of daily operations.

Announcing the decision at the annual work-plan day, the Singapore Prison Service together with Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises unveiled details for the data and technology driven prisons.



"One of the themes Prisons is thinking of is 'Prisons Without Guards'," Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said at the ceremony.

"In a lot of places, the use of technology, such as radio frequency identification, means you don't need prison officers to be watching or physically being around the prisoners all the time. This will really help our officers free up their time to do other things, and this will help with the manpower crunch."

Shanmugam also spoke about an on-going trial prison school that allows inmates to use mobile tablets.

Addressing the media before the ceremony, Singapore Prison Service director of transformation and technology division, Koh Tong Hai said the change will allow officers to engage in "higher-order jobs" including rehabilitation of inmates. The guards will be trained to use technology to customise rehabilitation programmes for the inmates.



The progamme has a two-step initiative: the first phase has a digital rehabilitation records management system - a soft copy of attendance records for work, counselling and rehabilitation through a chip embedded in a wrist tag. The second phase will have a body scanner that screens hidden or contraband items inside the clothing of the inmates.

After the pilot project at Changi Prison Complex, the Singapore Prison Service intends to test the system at Changi Women's Prison this year.

This article originally appeared on The Strait Times