Inmates' correspondence that may affect prison security can soon be redacted or withheld

SINGAPORE - The Minister for Home Affairs has been empowered to make regulations to redact or withhold inmates' correspondence if its contents are deemed to affect the security or order within a prison.

This follows an amendment to the Prisons Act passed on Tuesday (Jan 11) that also gives the minister the power to redact or withhold communications that might instigate a person to commit any offence.

Previously, there were no restrictions on a person publishing or disseminating information obtained from an inmate, while the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) could withhold only certain letters sent by or to inmates if their contents affected the security or order of the prison, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim.

These were insufficient from a security perspective, said Associate Professor Faishal. He noted that SPS had previously intercepted secret society-related messages in letters sent by and to inmates. The messages were sometimes in coded form.

"Such messages, if let through, could lead to clashes among inmates who are aligned to different secret societies and undermine the good order or security of the prison, or even incite acts of violence, such as causing hurt to another person outside prison," he said.

Examples of information that may affect the security or good order of the prison include drawings of the prison layout, information related to its security installations, and coded messages to spark a prison disturbance.

Workers' Party MP Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC) asked about the checks and balances in place for the new regulations.

Prof Faishal clarified that the amendments are not an attempt to stop inmates' communication, or to prevent them from speaking out about genuine grievances.

Citing an example given by Mr Perera where an inmate communicates about having suffered injuries in prison, Prof Faishal said the SPS will not withhold or redact such correspondence unless it is assessed to affect prison security or to incite an offence.

Should a letter written by an inmate be withheld, he will be informed and given an option to rewrite the letter if he chooses to do so, Prof Faishal added. An inmate will also be informed if any correspondence addressed to him is withheld.

"The inmate may ask his personal supervisor as to why the letter was withheld, and the reason will be shared with the inmate," he added.

Last year, 22 death-row inmates filed a civil case after it was found during court proceedings that the private letters of two of them had been forwarded by prison officials to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) due to an oversight on the part of the AGC.

The plaintiffs, mostly drug offenders, included former policeman Iskandar Rahmat, who was convicted of the 2013 Kovan double murders of a businessman and his son.

The forwarding of the letters came to light in the course of criminal proceedings involving two of the 13 inmates, and the Court of Appeal ruled in August 2020 that prison regulations did not permit the SPS to forward inmates' correspondence to the AGC. The civil case was withdrawn by the plaintiffs' lawyer at the start of the hearing.

Mr Perera asked if the new powers will let the Government intercept prisoners' communications to confer a legal advantage on the AGC in legal proceedings. Prof Faishal said the new provisions on controls to inmates' correspondence will not exempt any persons, and that includes lawyers.

In another amendment to the Prisons Act, the Commissioner of Prisons can now defer an inmate's release by up to 21 days to ensure that court-ordered punishment is carried out.

This will allow punishments to be carried out after the 14-day appeal period without the SPS having to seek a court order for offenders whose sentences are backdated and who are due for release within the 14 days.

Correction note: A previous version of this story said the Attorney-General had requested for the inmates' letters to be forwarded to the AGC. This is not true. We are sorry for the error.