singapore prison
A security guard monitors a surveillance camera in the control room of a drug rehabilitation center (DRC).
Kim* is a young professional who began using cannabis when her family life was in turmoil. Things improved, but her drug habit persisted, and by that time her social circle consisted primarily of drug users. With a reliable local cannabis supplier, Kim's friends asked her if they could buy some for her.
“That's what I did,” Kim says. “I never raised the price because it was a friendship. It's like I'm helping buy things for both of us anyway.”
Kim lives in Singapore, which has some of the toughest drug laws in the world.
Selling, transferring, delivering, managing, transporting, or distributing drugs constitutes drug trafficking. Additionally, by law, a person is presumed to be a trafficker if he or she is in possession of an amount of drugs that exceeds a certain weight threshold.
Kim's life quickly fell apart when one of her friends from whom she sourced marijuana was arrested by the state's Central Narcotics Bureau.
Kim was named as the supplier of the marijuana, and the marijuana was also picked up. After authorities searched her cell phone, another friend was arrested and Kim was charged with drug trafficking.
“I was terrified,” she says. “They're going to charge me with human trafficking? It was just overwhelming. I was in complete and utter fear of what was going to happen to me.”
Recreational cannabis has been decriminalized in many places around the world. In the US, 24 states have legalized it. Cannabis is illegal, but penalties for possession have been significantly reduced in the UK in recent years.
In Singapore, anything found with 15g is considered human trafficking, and anything over 500g carries the mandatory death penalty.
This is a controversial policy and has been the subject of several recent incidents. The most recent execution of a 64-year-old man on heroin charges took place on October 16th.
The Singaporean government did not tell the BBC how many people are currently on death row.
Death penalty becomes mandatory in Singapore drug cases
15g Diamorphine (Heroin) 30g Cocaine 500g Cannabis 250g Methamphetamine
Kim is not scheduled to receive the death penalty, but he could face a lengthy prison sentence.
“The minimum sentence would be five years,” she said. “In the worst case scenario, it could take 20 years.”
While Kim awaits sentencing on human trafficking charges, her friends have already been punished. However, they were not charged. Classified as drug consumers rather than traffickers, they faced very different treatment.
They were each sent to a state-run drug rehabilitation center for six months.
People caught using illegal drugs in Singapore are rated as low risk, medium risk, or high risk. Only those deemed to be at low risk of reoffending are allowed to remain at home and monitored in the community.
All other offenders are sent to compulsory rehabilitation, even if it is their first offense.
singapore prison
BBC was given rare access inside Singapore's rigorous drug rehabilitation center
There are no private residential rehabilitation facilities in Singapore. No need to wander around in a fluffy bathrobe and return to your en suite room.
The Drug Rehabilitation Center (DRC) is a vast complex run by Singapore's prisons. This is not surprising since this is imprisonment under a different name. Barbed wire, control rooms and surveillance cameras are everywhere. Security guards patrol the sidewalks.
As of December 2023, there were 3,981 Singaporeans in prison, of whom around one in eight were women.
Facility S1 houses approximately 500 uniformly dressed male inmates, most of whom are first- or second-time drug offenders.
A cell holds seven or eight men. There are two toilets and a shower behind a waist-height wall. There are no beds. The men sleep on thin rush mats on the concrete floor. And detainees spend at least six months here, even if they are not addicts but just drug users.
“Although it is a rehabilitation regime, it is still a very deterrent regime,” said Supt Rabin Singh. “We don't want to make your stay too comfortable.”
singapore prison
Inmates are given items such as T-shirts, socks and rush mats to sleep on.
The men spend up to six hours a day in classrooms for psychology-based courses.
“The aim is to make prisoners want to stay away from drugs and start a new life without drugs, and to deal with negative attitudes towards drugs,” said Lau Quang Mei, deputy director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. he says.
singapore prison
Prisoners participate in sessions such as mindfulness, where they are taught how to control their out-of-control thoughts.
“They teach us a lot about how to manage the triggers of drug use,” says John*, a man in his late 20s who is nearing the end of his six-month stay.
John has a history of methamphetamine use and was one of the prisoners selected by prison authorities to speak to the BBC.
Methamphetamine (also known as crystal or ice) is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant and is the most commonly abused drug in Singapore and the region.
Earlier this year, agents from the Central Narcotics Bureau arrived at John's home, where he lived with his parents, on a weekday afternoon. Before being taken away, he spoke to his shocked mother.
“She said, 'Learn your lesson, pay your dues, and come back clean,'” John recalls.
And while that's what he's aiming for, he knows it won't be easy.
“It's exciting to quit,” he says. “But I'm also nervous…I'm locked up here and I won't be facing drugs.”
John is worried that he will be tempted to take meth again. His rehabilitation program was mandatory, not optional as it would have been had he lived in North America or Europe. Even so, it may not affect his chances of remaining drug-free.
Dr. Muni Winslow, an addiction psychiatrist who worked for a government agency in Singapore, said, “When you look at evidence-based policies for drug addiction…Is the treatment provided voluntary? It doesn't really matter whether it's involuntary or not.”
He believes the treatment provided to drug users is improving.
“It's a lot better now because we have a lot of addiction-trained psychologists and counselors throughout the criminal justice system.”
Historically, drugs in Singapore have been viewed as a criminal justice issue rather than a health issue.
State executions of traffickers still influence how the government and most Singaporeans view drugs, but this does not prevent changes in the way drug users are treated. For example, a person who spends time in a rehabilitation center will not have a criminal record.
“We talked to psychologists and addiction experts and our thinking evolved,” explains Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam. “If they're not a threat to society, there's no need to treat them as criminals.”
Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam suggests Singapore has changed its thinking about how drug users are treated
Singapore is dedicating significant resources to ensuring that people remain clean after leaving the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The most important thing is to help them find a job.
But while authorities say the system has changed, critics believe it remains humane.
The group Transformative Justice Collective, which campaigns against the death penalty, describes the DRC as a form of forced detention where prisoners are subjected to “humiliation” and “loss of freedom”.
The group says the center's programs are superficial and focus on “shame” and fail to address the root causes of drug addiction.
“We've seen so many lives destroyed and so much trauma inflicted by being arrested, jailed, and placed in the same cell,” says Kirsten Hung. .
“It causes tremendous stress and instability. And these are not harms caused by drugs. These are harms caused by the war on drugs.”
singapore prison
The world's first urinalysis laboratory
Surveillance remains an important part of the state's mission to keep ex-prisoners clean.
A handsome-looking man in his 50s arrived at the monitoring center. He has struggled with heroin and been in and out of drug rehabilitation centers six times. But for the past 26 months, he has not taken drugs and lives at home, monitored with an electronic tag. Now his prison term is over.
He was delighted when his tag was cut off, exchanged a few words with Karen Lee, head of the Community Corrections Command, and then scurried away.
“He looks healthy,” she says. “And that's what we want from all our supervisors… 3 in 10 return as drug-abusing addicts, but 7 go on to live their lives successfully as rehabilitated citizens of Singapore.” Don't forget that you have someone to oversee you.”
While tagged, former heroin users had another incentive to stay clean. It was a routine urine analysis. Singapore's state-of-the-art urine monitoring cubicle is the first of its kind in the world.
When the supervisor enters the cubicle, the door is locked behind him. After he pees in the urinal, the technology tests for drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin. It takes approximately 7 minutes.
“It's not that boring. We even have videos for him to watch, like Mr. Bean,” says Karen Lee.
If the test result is negative, the green light will turn on and the man will be free to move around. A red light indicates a positive test result and the supervisor is re-arrested.
Singapore's zero-tolerance policy does not differentiate between drug users and addicts. And although punishment is no longer central to the system, strict practices remain in Singapore, including a legal requirement for doctors to report patients to authorities if they reveal drug use. This can deter people from seeking help for problematic drug addictions.
However, those convicted of human trafficking receive the harshest treatment. Kim, who was procuring cannabis for a friend, is trying to keep busy while awaiting a court ruling on the charges against her.
“After hearing that there was little chance that I would not serve my sentence, I took some time to grieve what little I would be missing out on in my life,” Kim said. I think I accepted prison on a deeper level. It never gets easier as the day approaches. ”
Even if Kim is incarcerated — as she expected — she is not unique. As of December 2023, approximately half of the country's convicted prison population (2,299 people) were serving sentences for drug crimes.
*All names have been changed.
Singapore: drugs, rehabilitation and executions
Singapore's laws against illegal drugs are notoriously strict. Penalties for human trafficking include the death penalty, but the government maintains its zero-tolerance policy is effective.
If you are caught using illegal drugs, including marijuana, you may be subject to mandatory rehabilitation. The BBC's Linda Presley lobbied Singapore authorities and was granted access to the country's rigorous drug rehabilitation centre.
She speaks to drug users who have to spend months in institutions before being released back into society under supervision.
