@kixes piece on inmate Sallehin and his mother's struggle to find answers re: his claims of mistreatment and assault in custody deserves widespread attention and our collective demand for justice. Read in full: https://tinyurl.com/y627gl7t 

Sallehin is serving a life sentence with caning at Changi prison for a drug importation charge. Sallehin's mum contacted @kixes in 2018 and shared Sallehin's letters, documents and put her in touch with ex-inmates who had served time with Sallehin.

Sallehin's allegations:
2017:

1) His dietary needs were ignored. After days without food, he was sent to the psych ward. His hands and feet were cuffed to the bed. When he asked why, prison staff said these were doctor's instructions and they can't help him.

2) His blood sugar kept dropping and he was sent to CGH when he blacked out

3) After he was discharged from SGH, he was put in an isolation ward in prison, cuffed to the bed

4) When he returned to his cell, prison doc didn't see him though he reported sick

2018:

1) He was assaulted by a prison officer after taking issue with the food he was given. The officer roughly pulled his arms behind his back despite an injury in his left arm. He was pushed to the ground and stepped on, near his groin too.

2) His injuries from this incident include multiple abrasions, bump on his forehead, a knee sprain and a swollen wrist.

3) He was sent to the detention housing unit after the assault, where officers refused to photograph his injuries.

4) Once again, he didn't receive medical attention despite reporting sick.

5) He was eventually warded at SGH for around a month, for high blood pressure and low blood sugar.

2020:

1) He writes in a note that he is being physically and mentally abused by B1 management and medical staff.

2) He says his abuse started in Tanah Merah prison since the day he was sentenced.

3) He's exasperated that his and his mum's attempts to get help have amounted to nothing. He says the management is covering up their wrongdoing.

4) He kept a journal documenting what has happened to him over the years but this was confiscated by mgmt.

5) He says the journal includes detailed accounts of their "ill treatment, victimisation and abuse" from 2017-2020.

6) He says he has been charged with and punished for disciplinary offences that he has not committed.

What does Sallehin want?

1) An independent third party to do a thorough investigation, interviewing him and witnesses who can corroborate his claims.

2) To be transferred out of B1 as he doesn't feel safe there.

3) For his allegations to be settled in court.

What has his mother, Normalah, done to date, re: Sallehin's allegations?

1) Contacted MHA
2) Filed police reports
3) Went to see MPs
4) Lodging official complaints to AGC and police via lawyers
5) Writing to the prison repeatedly

What has the response from the authorities been, to Normalah's efforts?

1) They deny all allegations, say he's well cared for
2) They say he's committed 12 disciplinary offences while in custody
3) He refused his meds
4) He hit his own head on the wall

Normalah's response:

1) Normalah believes her son
2) She has repeatedly asked for a meeting with prison officers in Sallehin's presence. This has been denied, and the prison claims she has given up on this request though she denies this.

3) She asked for Sallehin's medical records from Changi General Hospital. This was rejected. She was told the prison has to give permission for her to see her son's medical records (WTF??)
4) SPS informed her she had to pay $240 to obtain a report from the prison medical officer.

5) Normalah doesn't want the prison authorities' medical report, she wants Changi hospital's records.
6) After N filed a police report and saw an MP, the prison addressed the confiscated journal, saying it was removed as it was used "inappropriately and without authorisation".

7) After N made further appeals to the MP, SPS said Sallehin will be liable for the disciplinary offence of making "groundless accusations".
8) SPS also told N that they will not be replying to her letters anymore.
9) N says the matter is not resolved and she will keep writing.

"Ownself check ownself" is a disaster for accountability.

When N filed police reports about her son's allegations against the prison, police told her it was REFERRED TO THE PRISON for their consideration (????)

The Board of Visiting Justices are meant to inspect prison conditions, prisoners' welfare and complaints from time to time. But from this letter the SPS sent Normalah, it appears that if prisoners make complaints to the VJ, they take the prison's explanation at face value.

Does the convo go smth like this?

VJ: Hey this dude says you mistreated him. He's got all these dates, details, etc, and friends who've seen what happened.

SPS: Nah, he's full of shit. Makes up stories, this one.

VJ: Ah ok, that clears that up then.

If the VJs don't conduct an independent inquiry into the prisoner's claims, WHAT IS THE POINT OF THEM? We also don't have external/independent oversight mechanisms like ombudsmans to investigate complaints against public authorities.

Media access to prisons is highly restricted in Singapore. @Kixes application to visit Sallehin in prison was rejected. So how do prisoners get their voices heard?

@Kixes sent a long list of qns to SPS and received a one-line response. So how do we, the public, get answers?

@kixes spoke to 6 former inmates who knew Sallehin and spent time in the same cluster/block as him. Their accounts corroborated parts of Sallehin's story - that he wasn't liked by officers, they found reasons to punish him, they saw bruises on him.

Some of the men interviewed said they had been beaten in Tanah Merah prison too, and were afraid to complain to VJs as well.

On top of all this, how do journalists and activists have sincere, urgent conversations about prison conditions and possible mistreatment of prisoners with POFMA hanging over our heads?