Prison Fellowship Singapore marks 70 years with commemorative book

SINGAPORE – Mr Daniel Yong did not have an easy childhood.

His parents divorced when he was three years old, with his father gaining custody. And when his dad was jailed for 10 years, young Daniel was placed first in a children’s home and then in Boys’ Town.

He dropped out of school at age 15 and joined a gang, and started stealing and getting into fights. He soon landed in the Singapore Boys’ Home.

“I had no family support. My survival instinct was to steal and rob... I thought that once I have money, anything can be settled,” he told The Straits Times on Tuesday.

Now 35, he has since turned his life around, more than a decade after his final release from prison. He got married, started his own business and even returns to help inmates whose shoes he was once in.

On Friday, Mr Yong was among over 50 former convicts who attended a fund-raising gala dinner at The Fullerton Hotel held by Prison Fellowship Singapore (PFS) to mark 70 years of Christian prison ministry.

The charity also launched a commemorative book written by Dr William Wan, former chairman of PFS and general secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement.

Titled Forgiven Not Forsaken: Celebrating 70 Years Of Prison Ministry In Singapore, the book tells the stories of former convicts whose lives were impacted by the prison ministry, and those of staff, volunteers and leaders over the years. It is available at

https://pfs.org.sg/events

for a donation of $100, which is tax-deductible.

The charity, which partners the Singapore Prison Service and halfway houses, hopes to raise $1 million from the dinner and the sale of the book to support its work with inmates, former offenders and their families.

PFS offers counselling, tutoring for inmates’ children and financial assistance for their families, as well as a gang renunciation programme and support groups for former convicts.

Mr Yong told ST about his troubled youth: Getting caught for armed robbery with hurt at 16, being sent to a reformative training centre (RTC) for nearly two years, and then, not long after getting out, being nabbed for drug trafficking and jailed for five years.

“I remember thinking about my life one night after my friends fell asleep... Even though my friends were with me, I still felt lonely. Then I told myself it was time to change.”

He asked to continue his secondary school studies in prison, and ended up acing his N levels.

“After taking the N levels, I realised that I’m not stupid; I can actually study. I was just too playful and mixed with the wrong friends (when I was younger),” he said.

But he relapsed after he was released and became a loan shark runner.

He was caught soon after. He feared that he would be sentenced to six years of corrective training without remission – meaning that good behaviour would not warrant an early release.

To his relief, the judge gave him a last chance, sentencing him to five months’ jail.

“It felt like a stone dropped from my heart. That was the wake-up call for me,” said Mr Yong.

He cut off all ties with his gang, knowing that this was the only way to stay out of trouble.

He also married his girlfriend and started working in freight forwarding and kitchen equipment manufacturing. In 2017, he set up his own stainless steel fabrication business.

Still, Mr Yong confessed that staying clean had not been easy.

In 2021, he lost some $100,000 gambling online amid Covid-19 restrictions and was tempted to fall back into his old ways to make a quick buck.

He called an old friend from his former gang who had joined PFS as a staff member, and they met.

“He told me, don’t do anything stupid... He said that since I already managed to stay out of trouble for 10 years, why go back now? That’s when I told myself, I don’t want to give up my freedom so easily.”

Mr Yong started attending PFS’ weekly worship sessions and joined a men’s support group for former convicts.

The support group discussions helped him find better ways to cope. Now, he works as a Grab driver or Amazon delivery driver when his business is not doing well.

Another regular at the Thursday night support group sessions is Mr Karthigeyan Selvendran.

He joined a gang for protection after being bullied in secondary school, and took part in gang fights, theft and scams.

Once, he assaulted a policeman in a club when he was drunk.

Mr Karthigeyan decided to put a stop to this when he saw his mum suffering. She had raised him alone since his dad died when he was 11.

“The first time I was in the RTC, my mum wrote me letters and visited me regularly. But the second time she wrote fewer letters, the third time no letters, and she told me the next time she won’t visit me.”

The 36-year-old recounted how a PFS volunteer counsellor gave him spiritual guidance and helped him mend his relationship with his mother. The counsellor also met him after his release from prison, and invited him to his home for lunch and to fellowship sessions and other events.

“The problems were never-ending, but I felt that prayers protected me. I could sense my life changing,” said Mr Karthigeyan.

Now married and working as an IT technician, he regularly visits the 12-year-old son of an inmate to befriend and guide him.

Mr Yong has also gone back to prison to share his story and to help others in jail as a volunteer counsellor in a PFS faith-based counselling programme.

On why he makes this effort to help, he said: “I think that everyone has their own story. And I think that they don’t deserve to be in this vicious circle of crime.”

He added: “I think everyone deserves chances. For some, we have to offer them not just one chance, but many chances.”

PFS executive director Chua Kok Wan said: “No one wakes up in the morning and plans to go to prison. It is often their circumstances that set them on a path of crime.”

He said about 14 per cent of PFS’ current volunteer base are former offenders.

“They are a beacon of hope for the inmates, showing them that they, too, can change, encouraging them to seek forgiveness and be reconciled with the loved ones whom they have hurt,” he said.

“Ultimately, the second half of their lives is more significant – it is not too late for them to live a meaningful life and make a difference.”