https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/19/...-drug-trafficking-death-penalty-watson-digvid
Singapore
CNN
—
Though he is provided with a straw mat, Matthew says he prefers to sleep on the concrete floor of his cell in the maximum-security wing of Singapore’s Changi Prison
.
It’s more cooling that way,” says the 41-year-old former schoolteacher, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and seven strokes of the cane for selling methamphetamine.
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/loops/stellar/prod/loop-2-20241016012435390.mp4?c=original
CNN met Matthew, who spoke on condition that his last name be withheld, during an exclusive tour of Changi Prison provided by Singapore authorities as they defended the city-state’s uncompromising position on drugs.
In recent years, dozens of US states and countries ranging from Canada to Portugal have decriminalized marijuana.
But Singapore imposes a mandatory death penalty for people convicted of supplying certain amounts of illicit drugs – 15 grams (half an ounce) of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 250 grams of methamphetamine and 500 grams of cannabis.
A 64-year-old man was hanged for drug offenses this week – the fourth person to be hanged so far this year.
The harsh sentencing puts the wealthy city-state in a small club of countries that includes Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia, which execute criminals convicted of drug offenses.
K Shanmugam, Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Law, characterizes the country’s war on drugs as an “existential battle,” and claims any easing of the government’s hardline stance could lead to chaos.
“Look around the world,” Shanmugam says. “Any time there has been a certain laxity in the approach to drugs, homicides go up. Killings, torture, kidnappings … that goes up.”
A lucrative drugs market
Visitors to Singapore get a stark warning about the island’s zero tolerance for drugs as international flights descend for landing.
“Drug trafficking may be punishable by death,” a woman’s voice announces over the loudspeaker, amid instructions to passengers to buckle seat belts and stow away tray tables.
Many citizens of this Southeast Asian city-state are also aware that it is illegal for them to consume drugs overseas.
Returning Singaporeans and permanent residents run the risk of facing drug tests upon arrival.
“When you come back, and if there is a reason to believe you have taken drugs, you could be tested,” Shanmugam says.
Per capita, Singapore is one of the world’s wealthiest countries. With a population of nearly 6 million people, it has an annual GDP per capita of nearly $134,000.
This regional transport and financial hub has a reputation for safety, efficiency and strictness under de facto single-party rule.
The People’s Action Party, of which Shanmugam is a member, has governed Singapore since its independence nearly six decades ago.
Speaking from a balcony in the Home Affairs Ministry overlooking tidy neighborhoods of parks and villas, Shanmugam argues his country is a potentially lucrative market in a part of Asia he says is awash with drugs.
“If you are able to traffic into Singapore, the street price here compared to the street price in some other parts [of the world], it’s a magnet.”
Singapore stands in relatively close proximity to the notorious Golden Triangle, the mountainous intersection of Thailand, Laos and civil war-torn Myanmar. Last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) labeled the region the world’s largest source of opium. Production of methamphetamine in the region has also surged in recent years, outpacing heroin and opium.
Singapore’s anti-drug czar claims strict punishment serves as a deterrent to drug traffickers.
“Our philosophy on prisons is not the same as, say, the Scandinavian philosophy,” Shanmugam says. “We choose to make it harsh,” he adds. “It is not a holiday home.
“It is intended to be tough.”
Single cells in stifling heat
Singapore’s Changi Prison Complex is a walled compound of guard towers and imposing gates built in the shadow of the country’s main airport.
More than 10,000 prisoners are held here, and according to the prison’s latest annual report, most are serving time for drug offenses.
CNN was given access to one floor of a maximum-security wing that holds around 160 prisoners jailed for felonies ranging from drug dealing to violent crimes including manslaughter.
A network of security cameras mounted inside and outside individual cells and even over toilets allow just five guards to monitor the entire floor.
At mealtimes, the metallic clang of shutting gates echoes through the cell block, as a prisoner distributes meal trays through a ground-level hatch at the bottom of each cell door.
Authorities allowed CNN to interview only one prisoner, Matthew, the former schoolteacher, who said he was addicted to the same drug he was selling.
His single-occupancy cell is austere, measuring just 7 square meters (75 square feet), with a squat toilet beneath a shower. Inmates are not allowed to have furniture, so there’s no bed or anything to sit on.
It is also steam-bath hot year-round in Singapore’s tropical climate, where maximum daily temperatures regularly rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).
The effect of extreme heat on prisoners has become more of a concern around the world as temperatures rise due to climate change.
“You will notice that there aren’t any fans or aircon,” Matthew explains. “There are some periods of time where it’s unbearable.”
Asked whether the threat of the death penalty had any deterrent effect on his drug dealing, Matthew says, “I would like to say yes.”
“But the truth is at that point in time I wasn’t thinking about it. In fact, I was actively avoiding the whole issue of consequences.”
‘Captains of lives’
The prison’s deliberately harsh conditions contrast sharply with abundant emotional wellness messaging in the facility’s common areas.
The workshop, where prisoners pack anti-dandruff shampoo and instant coffee for a small salary, is plastered with motivational quotes from luminaries such as Steve Jobs and Nelson Mandela.
Cartoon characters and photos of waterfalls decorate classrooms where prisoners get lessons in anger management and job training.
Officials from the Singapore Prison Service say they encourage guards to think of themselves as “Captains of Lives,” helping rehabilitate the prison population.
From an air-conditioned room known as “the fish tank,” they monitor inmates on live feeds from dozens of security cameras positioned around the pri
son.
Reuben Leong, the officer in charge of the correctional unit, says the job is not without risk. Violent incidents – usually fights between inmates – take place every few weeks, he says.
“There will be periods of time where they can be demanding, they can be rude, they can be hostile to you,” he adds.
The Yellow Ribbon Project is a government program aimed at rehabilitating former convicts, with job placement and community engagement.
Despite these efforts, Singaporean officials say roughly one in five former prisoners will likely end up back behind bars within two years. By comparison, one in three return to prison within two years in the United States, which has some of the highest recidivism rates in the world.
Meanwhile, there is no rehabilitation for death row inmates.
Singapore executed 11 prisoners by hanging in 2022, and five last year, according to the latest figures. All were convicted of drug charges.
Officials did not allow CNN to visit Institution A1, where more than 40 death row inmates await the same fate.
Singapore
CNN
—
Though he is provided with a straw mat, Matthew says he prefers to sleep on the concrete floor of his cell in the maximum-security wing of Singapore’s Changi Prison
.
It’s more cooling that way,” says the 41-year-old former schoolteacher, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and seven strokes of the cane for selling methamphetamine.
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/loops/stellar/prod/loop-2-20241016012435390.mp4?c=original
CNN met Matthew, who spoke on condition that his last name be withheld, during an exclusive tour of Changi Prison provided by Singapore authorities as they defended the city-state’s uncompromising position on drugs.
In recent years, dozens of US states and countries ranging from Canada to Portugal have decriminalized marijuana.
But Singapore imposes a mandatory death penalty for people convicted of supplying certain amounts of illicit drugs – 15 grams (half an ounce) of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 250 grams of methamphetamine and 500 grams of cannabis.
A 64-year-old man was hanged for drug offenses this week – the fourth person to be hanged so far this year.
The harsh sentencing puts the wealthy city-state in a small club of countries that includes Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia, which execute criminals convicted of drug offenses.
K Shanmugam, Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Law, characterizes the country’s war on drugs as an “existential battle,” and claims any easing of the government’s hardline stance could lead to chaos.
“Look around the world,” Shanmugam says. “Any time there has been a certain laxity in the approach to drugs, homicides go up. Killings, torture, kidnappings … that goes up.”
A lucrative drugs market
Visitors to Singapore get a stark warning about the island’s zero tolerance for drugs as international flights descend for landing.
“Drug trafficking may be punishable by death,” a woman’s voice announces over the loudspeaker, amid instructions to passengers to buckle seat belts and stow away tray tables.
Many citizens of this Southeast Asian city-state are also aware that it is illegal for them to consume drugs overseas.
Returning Singaporeans and permanent residents run the risk of facing drug tests upon arrival.
“When you come back, and if there is a reason to believe you have taken drugs, you could be tested,” Shanmugam says.
Per capita, Singapore is one of the world’s wealthiest countries. With a population of nearly 6 million people, it has an annual GDP per capita of nearly $134,000.
This regional transport and financial hub has a reputation for safety, efficiency and strictness under de facto single-party rule.
The People’s Action Party, of which Shanmugam is a member, has governed Singapore since its independence nearly six decades ago.
Speaking from a balcony in the Home Affairs Ministry overlooking tidy neighborhoods of parks and villas, Shanmugam argues his country is a potentially lucrative market in a part of Asia he says is awash with drugs.
“If you are able to traffic into Singapore, the street price here compared to the street price in some other parts [of the world], it’s a magnet.”
Singapore stands in relatively close proximity to the notorious Golden Triangle, the mountainous intersection of Thailand, Laos and civil war-torn Myanmar. Last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) labeled the region the world’s largest source of opium. Production of methamphetamine in the region has also surged in recent years, outpacing heroin and opium.
Singapore’s anti-drug czar claims strict punishment serves as a deterrent to drug traffickers.
“Our philosophy on prisons is not the same as, say, the Scandinavian philosophy,” Shanmugam says. “We choose to make it harsh,” he adds. “It is not a holiday home.
“It is intended to be tough.”
Single cells in stifling heat
Singapore’s Changi Prison Complex is a walled compound of guard towers and imposing gates built in the shadow of the country’s main airport.
More than 10,000 prisoners are held here, and according to the prison’s latest annual report, most are serving time for drug offenses.
CNN was given access to one floor of a maximum-security wing that holds around 160 prisoners jailed for felonies ranging from drug dealing to violent crimes including manslaughter.
A network of security cameras mounted inside and outside individual cells and even over toilets allow just five guards to monitor the entire floor.
At mealtimes, the metallic clang of shutting gates echoes through the cell block, as a prisoner distributes meal trays through a ground-level hatch at the bottom of each cell door.
Authorities allowed CNN to interview only one prisoner, Matthew, the former schoolteacher, who said he was addicted to the same drug he was selling.
His single-occupancy cell is austere, measuring just 7 square meters (75 square feet), with a squat toilet beneath a shower. Inmates are not allowed to have furniture, so there’s no bed or anything to sit on.
It is also steam-bath hot year-round in Singapore’s tropical climate, where maximum daily temperatures regularly rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).
The effect of extreme heat on prisoners has become more of a concern around the world as temperatures rise due to climate change.
“You will notice that there aren’t any fans or aircon,” Matthew explains. “There are some periods of time where it’s unbearable.”
Asked whether the threat of the death penalty had any deterrent effect on his drug dealing, Matthew says, “I would like to say yes.”
“But the truth is at that point in time I wasn’t thinking about it. In fact, I was actively avoiding the whole issue of consequences.”
‘Captains of lives’
The prison’s deliberately harsh conditions contrast sharply with abundant emotional wellness messaging in the facility’s common areas.
The workshop, where prisoners pack anti-dandruff shampoo and instant coffee for a small salary, is plastered with motivational quotes from luminaries such as Steve Jobs and Nelson Mandela.
Cartoon characters and photos of waterfalls decorate classrooms where prisoners get lessons in anger management and job training.
Officials from the Singapore Prison Service say they encourage guards to think of themselves as “Captains of Lives,” helping rehabilitate the prison population.
From an air-conditioned room known as “the fish tank,” they monitor inmates on live feeds from dozens of security cameras positioned around the pri
son.
Reuben Leong, the officer in charge of the correctional unit, says the job is not without risk. Violent incidents – usually fights between inmates – take place every few weeks, he says.
“There will be periods of time where they can be demanding, they can be rude, they can be hostile to you,” he adds.
The Yellow Ribbon Project is a government program aimed at rehabilitating former convicts, with job placement and community engagement.
Despite these efforts, Singaporean officials say roughly one in five former prisoners will likely end up back behind bars within two years. By comparison, one in three return to prison within two years in the United States, which has some of the highest recidivism rates in the world.
Meanwhile, there is no rehabilitation for death row inmates.
Singapore executed 11 prisoners by hanging in 2022, and five last year, according to the latest figures. All were convicted of drug charges.
Officials did not allow CNN to visit Institution A1, where more than 40 death row inmates await the same fate.
