Speakers
Parallel Workshops
The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) adopts a comprehensive approach to community mobilisation by collaborating with government agencies, social service organisations, grassroots, religious groups, and individual volunteers. Through these partnerships, SPS strengthens the economic, social, and community capital of inmates and ex-offenders, and build a safer throughcare ecosystem that supports successful reintegration, long term desistance, and reduced recidivism.
SPS works with the Yellow Ribbon ecosystem, which includes (i) Yellow Ribbon Singapore, the lead agency for championing hope, acceptance, and second chances for ex-offenders, (ii) Yellow Ribbon Cares, a charity formed through the unification of three aftercare organisations, and (iii) Yellow Ribbon Industries Pte Ltd, a social enterprise.
On the community and volunteer front, to ensure meaningful and sustained individual volunteer contributions, the IMPACT training framework equips volunteers with evidence-informed rehabilitation competencies. Culturally nuanced approaches further ensure inclusivity across minority communities affected by incarceration.
SPS also implemented a Peer Engagement and Empowered Rehabilitation Support (PEERS) Framework to leverage the lived experience of offenders during incarceration to facilitate relationship-building circles and motivational programmes. This peer work extends into aftercare, where successfully reintegrated individuals may be recruited as Peer Mentors, who co-facilitate psychology-based correctional programmes, serve as volunteer case officers, and support community groups.
SPS leverages institutionalised support from Yellow Ribbon and its subsidiaries, community networks, and peer supporters to drive rehabilitation efforts. These systems help to strengthen support for inmates and ex-offenders, reinforce positive rehabilitation outcomes, and contribute to a more resilient and inclusive throughcare ecosystem.
Matthew joined the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) in 1998 after graduating from Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in Social Work from the National University of Singapore (2004), and a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (2006), where he was awarded the Harwin Award for Academic Excellence (Silver) and the Harwin Award for Student Leadership. In 2023, Matthew completed the Senior Executive Programme at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and was nominated as the speaker for the graduating cohort.
In his 27 years of service, Matthew has held various key appointments in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) – spanning domains such as policy and operations, strategic planning and corporate relations. He was a Cluster Commander overseeing five prison institutions, Director of the Community Corrections Command, and Deputy Director (Civil Defence and Rehabilitation) in MHA. Matthew was also the concurrent CEO of Yellow Ribbon Singapore (YRSG) and Yellow Ribbon Industries (YRI) Private Limited, where he steered both organisations through the COVID-19 pandemic while driving organisation-wide transformation and innovation. Under his leadership, a record $8 million between 2020 and 2022 was raised by the Yellow Ribbon Fund – supporting 16,000 ex-offenders and their families through the pandemic.
Matthew was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Prisons (Operations and Rehabilitation) in August 2023, before assuming his current role as Commissioner of Prisons in April 2026.