PRISONS officers have to brace themselves to cope with a 'potential rise' in inmate population because of the recession, which has been linked to a spike in some crimes, said Second Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam on Tuesday.

The shrinking economy may mean less jobs for newly-released inmates, who may then find it harder to re-integrate into the community and stay on the straight and narrow.

'Prisons and Score must stand prepared and ready to cope with the potential increase...even as you find new and better ways to manage the existing inmates,' said Mr Shanmugam, speaking at the annual seminar for Prisons and Score - the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises - officers.

He also urged prison officers to ready themselves to cope with the new sentencing options that allow offenders to serve time outside prison walls when these are introduced.

These options, which are part of changes proposed to the Criminal Procedure Code, were made public last December for feedback

One community-based option under review is the Short Detention Order, which puts low-risk, first-time offenders in jail for just a week. The 'clang of the prison gates' is supposed to deter re-offending without removing them from their families and jobs.

Mr Shanmugam noted that in 2006, 25.1 per cent of freed prisoners were back behind bars within two years, slightly higher than the 24.2 per cent figure for the 2005 cohort.

As the declining trend over the years may have 'bottomed out', he said it was 'unrealistic' to expect the rate to drop year after year.

He credited the 'excellent result' to the work of Prisons and Score officers. For example, during the Yellow Ribbon Project month last year, 133 employers signed up to hire ex-offenders, more than the 79 in 2007.