SINGAPORE - Plans are under way to set up another all-women halfway house here which is expected to open its doors in 2023.

The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) will work with Muslim welfare group, the Singapore Muslim Women's Association, to set up the new all-women halfway house, the second in Singapore.

Minister of State for Home Affairs and for National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim announced this during his visit to The Turning Point halfway house in Jamaica Road in Sembawang on Monday (Oct 12).

Dr Faishal said: "In our journey of providing halfway houses for ex-offenders, we realised that we can do more to support women ex-offenders. The Turning Point has played a very significant role in providing the rehabilitation journey for ex-offenders.

"We find that when women come back to society, they need that social support and network that will help them in the rehabilitation process. At the same time, they would be playing a bigger role in the caregiving needs of their families.

"This, in my view, not only will provide additional support to the ex-offenders themselves but we are looking at how we can also strengthen their families."

Dr Faishal added that the upcoming halfway house would be open to female residents of all races and religions.

The Turning Point is Singapore's only all-women residential halfway house, providing rehabilitation services to substance abusers and recovering abusers. Operating since 1990, it now houses 18 residents in their 20s to 60s.

During his visit on Monday, Dr Faishal toured the premises and interacted with residents, most of whom are serving the tail-end of their sentences.

He acknowledged the challenge for former offenders to secure jobs after reintegrating into society, and said: "While Yellow Ribbon Singapore is working hard to explore employment opportunities for our ex-offenders, I am happy to observe that the halfway houses are also playing their part in not only creating opportunities but providing the skills needed for them while they are at the halfway houses.

"I assure you that we are working very hard to create opportunities and our community partners are with us to make sure we provide as many opportunities as possible for them to be reintegrated into the community but also find a job and sustain their lives and families."

During a visit to The Turning Point in October 2019, President Halimah Yacob suggested the opening of another halfway house for women as a way to improve the rehabilitation of recovering female drug addicts.

Emphasising the importance of early intervention, Madam Halimah noted that most women became drug abusers because of their partners, including their husbands in some cases, so more work had to be done to prevent that.

Data from a 2015 qualitative study of 21 female offenders by SPS showed that almost half of them fell into drug addiction to bolster relationships with their addict-partners with whom they were intimate.