SINGAPORE - The Government has accepted liability and will compensate the family of prison inmate Dinesh Raman Chinnaiah who died in prison after he was subdued following an unprovoked attack on a prison warden, Second Minister for Home Affairs S Iswaran said in Parliament today (Aug 11).

Responding to questions from several Members of Parliament, he added that the Prisons Service has introduced new protocols, such as applying Control & Restraint, or C&R, techniques on violent inmates in a standing position where possible, to reduce the risk of positional asphyxia.

Last month, Lim Kwo Yin, 36, a Prisons Deputy Superintendent pleaded guilty to causing Dinesh’s death by a negligent act by failing to “adequately supervise” the exercise and was fined S$10,000. The remaining seven officers involved in Dinesh’s restraint are currently going through due disciplinary proceedings, Mr Iswaran said.

The 21-year-old had died of positional asphyxia on Sept 27 2010 after he was restrained and put in a solitary cell in a prone position, belly down with his head turned sideways. In response to one MP’s question, Mr Iswaran said that Dinesh has also had other recorded incidents of violating rules including one “serious” case.

Prison officers have had to use C&R techniques 331 times to deal with violent incidents over the last 4 years. No prison inmate had ever died or suffered serious injuries as a result of C&R techniques, he added.

Dinesh had committed rioting and theft with common intention and was sentenced to reformative training on Dec 12, 2007. He was released from reformative training on Jan 6, 2010, and ordered to be placed on supervision. But in May, he was recalled to Changi Prison after failing to comply with the supervision order. He was due for release on Dec 11, 2010.