Recidivism Rates of Drug Rehabilitation and Long Term Imprisonment Cohorts Released from 2012 to 2014

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Home Affairs for each year from 2012 to 2014 what are the recidivism rates for the release cohorts from (i) the Drug Rehabilitation Centres (ii) the Long Term Imprisonment 1 regime and (iii) Long Term Imprisonment 2 regime, respectively.

The two-year recidivism rates for persons released from the Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC), Long-Term Imprisonment 1 (LT1) and Long-Term Imprisonment 2 (LT2) from 2012 to 2014 are as follows.

The recidivism rates in recent years for drug inmates have fallen significantly from the 60 – 70% in the 1990s.

In the past few years, several new programmes were introduced to better support the rehabilitation of DRC and LT inmates.

Singapore Prison Service (SPS) introduced the Enhanced Supervision Scheme (ESS) in 2012 to provide more intensive support for high-risk Long-Term Imprisonment inmates. They undergo a psychology-based programme during incarceration as well as mandatory casework, individual counselling and community supervision after their release. The Prisons Act was also amended in 2014 to introduce the Mandatory Aftercare Scheme (MAS), which provides structured supervision to high-risk offenders as they transition back into the community. In 2014, SPS launched the enhanced Drug Rehabilitation Regime which placed DRC inmates on tailored programmes based on their re-offending risks and severity of drug use.