This presentation will share on Singapore Prison Service’s (SPS) evidence-informed ‘Gender-Responsive’ (GR) approach in the rehabilitation and reintegration of women offenders. Our values of Empathy, Mutuality, Affirmation, Responsibility, and Independence (EMARI) and GR principles of being strength-based, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and relational form the basis of the evolution of the women’s wing to what it is today, not just a replica of the men’s regime.
Drawing on SPS’ own local research, GR principles underpin our intervention and general programmes for women inmates, as well as staff training and engagement skills, and the facilities and processes to best serve the needs of the women offenders to support their rehabilitation.
The desistance literature points to the importance of bonding as a social capital for the desistance process, of which, the family is a key source. For women with children, initiatives that we have implemented help to foster a prosocial identity through maintaining the connection between mother and child.
In the community, SPS recognizes the importance of a scaffolded post-release period, including for women offenders. The women are also connected with a network of community and social service agencies that help with reintegration needs such as employment, befriending services, finances, and accommodation.
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Ee Lin Foo
Commander, Cluster A, Singapore Prison Service, Singapore
Assistant Commissioner (AC) Foo Ee Lin joined the Singapore Prison Service in 2001. In her 20 years of service, she has held several key appointments. She was Assistant Director, Operations Management in the Operations Division from 2007 to 2011 where she contributed to the formulation and setting of policies governing the day-to-day management of the prison operations.
Between 2011 to 2013, she went on to assume the role of Superintendent of one of the prisons, where she oversaw the safe, secured and rehabilitation management of the prisoners.
In 2014, she assumed the role of Deputy Director at the Policy Development Division in the Ministry of Home Affairs, where she worked closely with the Singapore Police Force, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Central Narcotics Bureau, and the Singapore Prison Service to develop key national policies relating to civil defence, criminal law, and rehabilitation.
Since 2017, she has held the key appointments of Director Strategic Planning Division, as well as Director Staff Development Division, and is currently appointed as a Commander overseeing a cluster of prisons, including the women’s institution.
