The Making of Captains of Lives: Prison Reform in Singapore: 1999 to 2007, March/2012

This book tells a story of successful prison reform that brought the recidivism rate of prisoners down from 44% to 24%. In the process of this reform, the entire Prison Service was transformed from a custody focused mindset to a rehabilitation centred culture. This change was wrought despite the lack of enthusiasm of the then political leadership.

The author describes his personal role in the reform effort, the methodology used to engender change in organizational culture and the struggles for the soul of the prison service and the hearts and minds of all those involved. These include organizations involved in the aftercare of ex-offenders, volunteers who came forward to assist in the efforts and the families and employers of offenders and ex-offenders. The journey ends with the Yellow Ribbon Project that now embodies the rehabilitative efforts for ex-offenders.

The Making of Captains of Lives is a personal account of a public sector leader who has helped built a highly efficient prison system in Singapore, providing a strong case study for successful change management and public sector leadership. It will encourage the hearts of all those civil servants who believe in serving their nations and societies by devoting themselves to a worthy cause in their day-to-day work.

Government officials who are interested in prison reform, change management and correctional management, general public who are interested in general management and leadership. 

About The Author:
Mr Chua Chin Kiat is currently the Chairman of the Board of Centre for Enabled Living Ltd (CEL).

Mr Chua Chin Kiat graduated with First Class Honours in the Bachelor of Science (Computer and Mathematics) from the University of Aston in 1975. He was a recipient of both the President’s Scholarship and Singapore Armed
Forced Overseas Scholarship. He joined the Singapore Police Force in 1977. In 1979, at the age of 26, he became the head of a police division. Mr Chua had held key appointments in the Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters (Director
of Operations) and the Singapore Police Force (Director of Manpower, Director of Operations and Director of Criminal Investigation Department). He was the Director of Prisons from 1 November 1998 to 31 October 2007 and CEO and
Executive Director of Aetos Security Management from 1 November 2007 to 7 May 2011. Since stepping down from Aetos, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, Mr Chua devoted his time to volunteer work, serving on the
boards of CEL and Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). He was appointed the Chairman of CEL in November 2008. He was appointed Chairman of the Enabling Masterplan Steering Committee by Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) in July 2011.

M A K I N G O F C A P T A I N S O F L I V E S

Since Mr Chua took over the helm as Director of Singapore Prison Service, the Service started many new and bold initiatives which transformed the organisation into an exemplary prison system with a vision of being the “Captains of Lives”. In addition, Mr Chua was a Board Member of the Singapore
Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE). With Mr Chua on the SCORE Board, the Prison Service and SCORE work hand in hand, combining efforts to rehabilitate inmates. Mr Chua co-chaired the Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-offenders (CARE) Network with the Chairman, SCORE. The CARE network brings together the top management of helping agencies like Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association, Singapore Aftercare Association, Industrial & Services Cooperative Society and the National Council of Social Services. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports are also represented in the Network.

At Aetos, Mr Chua turned the company into a profi table security services provider which provided security coverage to the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints, the ports, Jurong Island, Singapore Night Race and the Youth Olympics among others.

Mr Chua was a recipient of the Public Administrative Medal (Gold) in 2005 and was awarded the International Management Action Award (MAA) presented by Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Singapore and SPRING Singapore in 2002 for having demonstrated exceptional ability in taking management action to achieve sustainable, tangible results in the rehabilitation of offenders.