More community support needed for offenders with more challenging mental disorders: Murali Pillai

SINGAPORE — Calling for community-based sentencing to extend to offenders with mental disorders that are more challenging to treat, Member of Parliament (Bukit Batok) K Muralidharan Pillai said jailing them is not an ideal solution.

The only sentencing option for offenders whose mental disorders come with a “guarded prognosis” is a jail term, he noted yesterday (Sept 11) in an adjournment motion in Parliament.

Such offenders could have conditions such as anti-social personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder and mental retardation. A guarded prognosis does not mean the condition is not treatable, but that psychiatric treatment alone is not enough, said Mr Murali.

Offenders with these mental conditions – termed Axis 2 disorders – are generally not given treatment in prison, beyond some medication at times to calm them, he said. The lack of treatment or appropriate management of their psychiatric conditions means that they may exit prisons “without the additional social and emotional skills to manage life”, he said. The risk of re-offending is thus not lessened.

Mr Murali said the courts should be given greater power to put in place “bespoke sentencing arrangements drawing from a multitude of disciplines for a wider spectrum of mental disorders”.

He previously represented a low-IQ man with a gaming addiction and an anti-social personality disorder, who had stolen coins from a vending machine to feed his addiction. He was given a conditional discharge and took part in a community programme where he learnt to work for the first time in his life. But the man was sentenced to jail for six months after re-offending under the influence of others.

Mr Murali also called for the Ministry of Law to consider community-based sentencing for offences punishable by mandatory or specified minimum sentences.

Responding to Mr Murali’s comments, Senior Minister of State for Law Indranee Rajah said the Government “can go further (in extending rehabilitative options to offenders), and intends to do so”.

But the community-based sentencing regime should be “carefully calibrated”, and is not suitable in every case, she said.

“Some crimes may be too serious, and it would not serve the justice system well to allow offenders to be under community-based sentencing regime. Some offenders may (also) not benefit from (it),” she added.

The Government will continue to identify and address gaps in the support structure available for those with mental health conditions, said Ms Indranee.

“But this cannot replace support from the community. The key to prevent re-offending often lies in the person regularly receiving treatment, including taking his or her medications. For this, there is no substitute for community support,” she said.

In July, the Law Ministry proposed changes to the Criminal Procedure Code that could allow more types of offenders to be eligible for community sentences.

Offenders who have served a previous jail term of three months or less could be eligible.

So could young offenders aged between 14 and 21 who have served a reformative training stint, which currently requires them to be institutionalised for 18 to 30 months. Those who have been admitted once to approved rehabilitation centres for drug or inhalant abuse could also benefit, provided their present charge is not for drug or inhalant abuse.