A Taste of Life in a Reformative Training Centre
A peek into one of the dayrooms—the doors lead to an individual cell about the size of two ping pong tables. PHOTO: Sidwyn Koh
These inmates go through a tough regime of foot drills, counselling, education and vocational training every day.
Their lives behind bars follow a strict schedule and the lack of freedom is probably the one thing they miss most about their lives outside the prison walls.
The Reformative Training Centre (RTC), located within Institution A4 in Cluster A, is a place where those under the age of 21 found guilty of offences such as theft, assault and drug abuse are sent to.
Convicts in RTC are separated from older convicts to lessen the likelihood of having the younger convicts influenced by hardened ones, most of whom were convicted for more serious crimes.
These youths spend a minimum of 18 months up to a maximum of 36 months in RTC.
On 31 May 2012, the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Singapore Prison Service (SPS) coordinated a prison tour to give participants an exclusive glimpse into the lives of imprisoned youths.
In all, 20 teachers signed up for this Learning Journey.
The Learning Journey to Institution A4 took them on a tour of prison facilities and ran them through the various types of programmes made available to the Reformative Trainees (RTs).