Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam clarified in Parliament during the Committee of Supply debate on Mar. 3 that inmates in Singapore do not need to thank prison staff after being caned.

The question was posed by Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) Leon Perera during his cuts for the Ministry of Home Affairs, speaking about extra-judicial caning in prisons, which are meted out to inmates who commit aggravated or major offences.

No requirement to thank officers after caning

Perera referred to "one published account" which claimed that there was a "practice that sometimes happens requiring inmates to thank the prison staff after being caned".

He said:

"I'm not alleging that this is the case, but I would like to ask the government if this is a current practice, and if so, would the government consider stopping it as it is unnecessary and seems of questionable rehabilitative value, to put it mildly."

Perera did not provide additional details regarding the account.

In his response to Perera, Shanmugam stated that "there is no such requirement".

Follow and listen to our podcast here

Top image by Getty Images.