No single organisation can provide all the reintegration needs of offenders, says Mr Desmond Chin, chief executive officer of the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprise(SCORE).
In sharing the Singapore experience, Mr Chin says that “partnership is the key and collaboration is essential”.
He was the guest speaker on the third day of the 2nd Heads of Pacific Island Corrections Conference in Suva and spoke on the topic ‘Enhancing Reintegration through Employment of Ex-offenders – the Singapore experience’.
“Effective rehabilitation and reintegration is not possible if we do not work closely with our community partners to provide for the multi-faceted needs for the inmates.”
In his concluding remarks, Mr Chin highlighted three important issues of the Singapore experience.
“Firstly, it is important to keep up to date with the market trends and employment opportunities as well as the needs of our inmates to ensure that we are able to prepare them for the real world outside.
“Secondly, while employment is very important, we must understand that employment cannot be viewed in silo. Just like you and I, there are a lot of other things that matter in our lives beyond employment including family and faith and we need to take on a holistic approach when helping our inmates reintegrate back to society.
“Thirdly, no man is an island. A single organisation will not be able to provide for all of the inmates’ reintegration needs. We need to recognise the diverse avenues of help available in our communities, leverage on their strengths and work closely together to make the greatest impact.”