On the walls surrounding the buildings at the Reformative Training Centre (RTC) are cheery murals of students at a beach.

The buildings on the grounds of Institution TM1, formerly known as Tanah Merah Prison, also feature a four-storey-tall painting of a lighthouse and artwork depicting a galaxy of starfish on the sand.

The beached starfish represent reformative trainees, or RTs, said correctional unit officer Benjamin Richard Pereira. In the same way a stranded starfish is returned to the sea to save it, he said trainees are helped back into society.

“Instead of making the surroundings look harsh when the RTs first enter (the RTC), the murals are supposed to make them feel relaxed,” added Staff Sergeant Pereira.

The young offenders undergo counselling and regimented programmes aimed at teaching them skills to give them a second chance in life.

But housing boys – above 14 years old and below 21 on the day of conviction – in the same building can produce mixed results. Some remain impetuous and make the wrong friends.

In April 2023, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to 10 months’ jail for attacking a stranger with a glass bottle in Clarke Quay. He was the last of a trio who met in the RTC – aged 20 to 22 – to be convicted for the attack.

The Straits Times was given access to the trainees, including Adam, a first-timer. The 20-year-old recalled being nervous when he first arrived at the RTC after fellow inmates told him that the centre was a “gangster’s paradise”.