Yong Lee joined Singapore Prison Service (SPS) in 1995 after graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 2004, she was awarded the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship under the Young Leaders’ Program for future national leaders. Yong Lee graduated in 2005 from the Japan National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies with a Masters in Public Policy and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Academic Performance. She completed her International Executive Programme with INSEAD in 2014, and MHA’s apex Phoenix Programme in 2019.
Yong Lee’s key appointments in SPS include operations and command stints in the prisons, leadership roles in research and planning, development of rehabilitation programmes, policy reviews and legislative changes to facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. Specifically, she has undertaken leadership roles as Head Operations of Changi Women’s Prison, Head Research & Planning, Head Programme, Deputy Director (Civil Defence & Rehabilitation) in Ministry of Home Affairs and Commander Cluster of five prisons. Yong Lee has been Deputy Commissioner since 2015 and was appointed as Commissioner of SPS on 28th September 2020.