Regulation 1
Citation
These Regulations may be cited as the Misuse of Drugs (Approved Institutions) (Discipline) Regulations.
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Misuse of Drugs (Approved Institutions) (Discipline) Regulations is Singapore Subsidiary Legislation, cited as Subsidiary Legislation MDA-RG5 1973, currently marked in force and first recorded in 1973.
Citation
These Regulations may be cited as the Misuse of Drugs (Approved Institutions) (Discipline) Regulations.
Definitions
In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —“centre” means any approved institution as defined in the Act;“Committee” means an Institutional Discipline Advisory Committee appointed by the Minister under regulation 2C;[Deleted by S 578/2014 wef 01/09/2014]“inmate” means any drug addict or abuser who is detained in a centre;“medical officer” means a registered medical practitioner who is for the time being appointed by the Commissioner of Prisons to perform the functions of a medical officer under these Regulations;“member”, in relation to a Committee, includes the chairman or deputy chairman of the Committee;“officer” means any rehabilitation or custodial officer of a centre and includes the Superintendent of that centre;“Part 3A product” has the meaning given by section 19A of the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act 1993;“probation officer” means a person appointed as a probation officer or volunteer probation officer under section 3 of the Probation of Offenders Act 1951;“specified psychoactive substance” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act 1993;“supervision officer” means any person appointed by the Minister under regulation 15(1) of the Misuse of Drugs (Approved Institutions, Medical Observation and Treatment and Rehabilitation) Regulations (Rg 3);“vaporiser” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act 1993;“visitor” means a member of the Board of Visitors appointed under regulation 3 of the Misuse of Drugs (Board of Visitors for Approved Institutions) Regulations (Rg 4), and includes any other person authorised by the Minister or the Commissioner of Prisons to visit a centre.
“Committee” means an Institutional Discipline Advisory Committee appointed by the Minister under regulation 2C;
“medical officer” means a registered medical practitioner who is for the time being appointed by the Commissioner of Prisons to perform the functions of a medical officer under these Regulations;
“member”, in relation to a Committee, includes the chairman or deputy chairman of the Committee;
“officer” means any rehabilitation or custodial officer of a centre and includes the Superintendent of that centre;
“Part 3A product” has the meaning given by section 19A of the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act 1993;
“probation officer” means a person appointed as a probation officer or volunteer probation officer under section 3 of the Probation of Offenders Act 1951;
“specified psychoactive substance” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act 1993;
“supervision officer” means any person appointed by the Minister under regulation 15(1) of the Misuse of Drugs (Approved Institutions, Medical Observation and Treatment and Rehabilitation) Regulations (Rg 3);
“vaporiser” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act 1993;
“visitor” means a member of the Board of Visitors appointed under regulation 3 of the Misuse of Drugs (Board of Visitors for Approved Institutions) Regulations (Rg 4), and includes any other person authorised by the Minister or the Commissioner of Prisons to visit a centre.
Institutional Discipline Advisory Committee
There may be an Institutional Discipline Advisory Committee for one or more centres, or more than one Institutional Discipline Advisory Committees for one centre.
The function of any Institutional Discipline Advisory Committee is to render an opinion to the Commissioner of Prisons on whether any corporal punishment that a Superintendent of a centre has ordered to be imposed on an inmate is excessive.
Constitution of Committee
Every Committee is to consist of —
a chairman;
a deputy chairman; and
between one and 5 other members.
Appointment of member of Committee
The Minister is to appoint the members of a Committee.
A member of a Committee is to hold office for 3 years or such shorter period as the Minister may specify in any particular case.
A member of a Committee is eligible for re-appointment.
A member of a Committee may at any time resign office by notice in writing to the Minister.
The Minister may at any time revoke the appointment of any member of a Committee, or fill any vacancy in the membership of any Committee.
Secretary of Committee
One or more public officers may be designated, either by name or by office, by the Minister or Commissioner of Prisons, to be the secretary of a Committee.
The secretary must attend all meetings of the Committee.
Quorum
The quorum for a meeting of a Committee is to be constituted by —
the presiding member of the Committee; and
any 2 other members of the Committee.
The chairman of a Committee is to preside at every meeting of the Committee at which he is present, and in his absence, the deputy chairman, if present at the meeting, is to preside.
If both the chairman and deputy chairman of a Committee are absent at a meeting, the remaining members of the Committee must elect one such member to preside at the meeting of the Committee.
Proceedings of Institutional Discipline Advisory Committee
A Committee —
is to sit in private;
is not required to meet in person;
may hold meetings, or allow its members to take part in meetings, by using the telephone, any Internet-based communication device or any other contemporaneous link between members;
is not required to conduct any hearing;
is not required to interview any inmate or person in respect of whom the opinion of the Committee is sought, or any other person; and
may request from the Commissioner of Prisons such information, relating to any inmate or person in respect of whom the opinion of the Committee is sought, as the Committee may require.
Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (1) or by or under the Act, a Committee may determine its own procedure.
Every opinion of a Committee is secret and must not be disclosed to any person other than to an officer or a member of the Government who is authorised by the Minister or the Commissioner of Prisons to prepare, see or comment on the opinion.
Opinion of Committee how rendered
All questions for the opinion of a Committee must be decided by a majority of votes of the members of the Committee.
If there is an equality of votes, the presiding member has a casting vote.
The opinion of a Committee may be accompanied by the dissenting view of any member of the Committee who voted against that opinion.
A member of the Committee who takes part in a meeting of the Committee in the manner referred to in regulation 2F(1)(c) shall be taken to be present at that meeting.
Guidelines
The Minister or the Commissioner of Prisons may, from time to time, give a Committee appointed to render an opinion to the Commissioner of Prisons, guidelines on the discharge of the Committee’s functions.
The Commissioner of Prisons shall not give any guidelines under paragraph (1) that are contrary to any guidelines given by the Minister under that paragraph.
Duties of inmates
An inmate of a centre shall work in such workshop or do such work as may be assigned to him by the Superintendent of the centre.
An inmate shall keep his bedding, personal effects and all the surrounding areas and the toilets of his living quarters clean and tidy.
Enforcement of discipline
Every officer shall treat every inmate justly and firmly in the enforcement of discipline.
Use of force
Every officer may use reasonable force against any inmate who —
is escaping or attempting to escape from a centre;
is engaged in a mutiny or an outbreak by himself or with other inmates;
attacks the officer or any other person; or
without any reasonable excuse, repeatedly refuses to obey a lawful order given by the officer.
Where force is used against an inmate under paragraph (1), the inmate shall be examined by a medical officer as soon as possible.
Discipline of inmates outside centre
Every person, while being taken to or from any centre to which he has been lawfully committed under the Act or while working outside the centre, or is otherwise beyond the premises thereof, in or under the lawful charge or control of an officer, shall be subject to the same discipline and to the same constraints as if he were within the centre.
Punishments for minor offences
An inmate of a centre who contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 3 or commits any of the minor offences set out in Part I of the Schedule shall be liable, in addition to or in lieu of any other punishment which may be imposed under the Act or any other written law, to any one or more of the following punishments to be imposed by the Superintendent of the centre:
deprivation of not more than 2 visits by relatives and friends of the inmate;
deprivation of the privilege to use or patronise the centre’s canteen for a period not exceeding one month;
(ba)confinement in a punishment cell for a period not exceeding 7 days;
stoppage or reduction of earnings for a period not exceeding one month;
a written warning.
Punishments for major offences
An inmate of a centre who commits any of the major offences set out in Part II of the Schedule shall be liable, in addition to or in lieu of any other punishment which may be imposed under the Act or any other written law, to any one or more of the following punishments to be imposed by the Superintendent of the centre:
deprivation of not more than 4 visits by relatives and friends of the inmate;
deprivation of the privilege to use or patronise the centre’s canteen for a period not exceeding 2 months;
confinement in a punishment cell for a period not exceeding 7 days;
stoppage or reduction of earnings for a period not exceeding 2 months;
except for the major offences mentioned in items (2) and (10) of Part II of the Schedule, corporal punishment not exceeding 6 strokes with a rattan.
Records of punishments
Any punishment imposed on an inmate under these Regulations shall be recorded in a register.
The number and name of the inmate, the nature of the offence for which the punishment is imposed and such other details thereof as the Commissioner of Prisons may require shall also be recorded in the register.
Commissioner to be informed of offences
Where a Superintendent of a centre has found an inmate guilty of a major offence, the Superintendent must notify the Commissioner of Prisons of the facts of the case, and the punishment imposed on the inmate, not later than 7 days after the imposition of the punishment.
The Commissioner of Prisons may amend, alter or vary any punishment imposed by the Superintendent of a centre under these Regulations.
In any case where a Superintendent of a centre has ordered that corporal punishment be imposed on an inmate, the Commissioner of Prisons shall refer the case to a Committee for its opinion on whether the punishment imposed on the inmate is excessive.
The Committee shall render its opinion to the Commissioner of Prisons within such period as the Minister may determine after the case has been referred to the Committee.
The Commissioner of Prisons may, but shall not be required to, have regard to the opinion of the Committee when performing his functions and duties under paragraph (2).
Right to be heard
No inmate shall be punished under these Regulations until he has had an opportunity of hearing the charge and the evidence against him and of making his defence.
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment shall not be imposed under these Regulations on —
women;
males who are above 50 years of age; or
any inmate unless a medical officer is present and certifies that the inmate is in a fit state of health to undergo such punishment.
Offences
Any person who, without the authority of the Act, these Regulations or the express permission of the Commissioner of Prisons —
conveys or supplies, or causes to be conveyed or supplied, to any inmate, or hides or places for the use of any inmate, any unauthorised article;
brings, or attempts by any means to introduce, into any centre, or places, or attempts to place, where inmates work, any unauthorised article;
brings, or attempts to bring, out of any centre, or conveys from any inmate, any unauthorised article; (d)makes any audio or visual recording in a centre; (e)communicates with any inmate in circumstances where the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, that the communication is likely to encourage, incite or agitate any inmate to commit an offence (including any offence listed in the Schedule), and thereby encourages, incites or agitates an inmate to commit an offence (including any offence listed in the Schedule); or
does any act, or omits to do any act, which the person is required by law to do, which the person knows, or ought reasonably to know, is likely to have any of the following effects, and which does have that effect:
prejudicing the safe custody of inmates, the safety of any person in a centre, or the security of a centre;
prejudicing the maintenance of good order and discipline in a centre,shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
Every officer of a centre who, without the authority of the Act, these Regulations or the express permission of the Commissioner of Prisons —
knowingly suffers any unauthorised article to be sold to or on behalf of, or to be received or used by or on behalf of, any inmate;
lends or gives to any inmate any unauthorised article; (c)knowingly suffers any unauthorised article to be brought out of any centre, or to be conveyed from any inmate;
knowingly suffers the making of any audio or visual recording in a centre; or
knowingly suffers any act or omission which he or she knows, or ought reasonably to know, is likely to have any of the following effects, and which does have such effect:
prejudicing the safe custody of inmates, the safety of any person in a centre, or the security of a centre;
prejudicing the maintenance of good order and discipline in a centre,shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
In this regulation, “unauthorised article” means —
any letter or document;
any electronic storage device;
any intoxicating substance, controlled drug, psychoactive substance or stimulant;
(ca)any Part 3A product;
any food or drink;
any item of clothing;
money; or
any article not specifically authorised by the Commissioner of Prisons to be brought into or out of a centre.
THE SCHEDULE
Regulations 7 and 8
PART I
MINOR OFFENCES
For the purposes of regulation 7, the minor offences are —
behaving in a disorderly or indecent manner;
talking without any reasonable cause during working hours, during an
assembly or during physical exercise, or talking loudly, laughing or
singing at any time after having been ordered by an officer to desist from
doing so;
leaving his place in a file or any seat or berth assigned to him without the
permission of an officer or without any reasonable cause;
omitting or refusing, without any reasonable excuse, to march in a file
when moving about a centre or when proceeding to or returning from
work;
committing a nuisance in any part of a centre;
secreting any article without any reasonable excuse;
omitting or refusing, without any reasonable excuse, to be clean or tidy or
disobeying, without any reasonable cause, an order relating to the cutting
of hair;
smoking a cigarette or any form of tobacco in a centre;
smoking or inhaling any substance by using a vaporiser in a centre;
doing any act which is injurious to his health;
refusing to undergo any medical treatment or examination when required
by an officer to do so;
doing any act or using any language calculated to offend or insult any
other inmate;
quarrelling with any other inmate;
doing any act calculated to create unnecessary alarm in the mind of any
other inmate or an officer;
visiting a lavatory without the permission of an officer or remaining there
longer than is necessary without any reasonable cause;
mixing or adding any substance to any material issued for work without
the permission of an officer;
Misuse of Drugs (Approved
Institutions) (Discipline)
Regulations
p. 12
[CAP. 185, Rg 5
leaving a place of work or that part of a centre in which he is confined
without the permission of an officer or without any reasonable cause;
performing any work allotted to another inmate, or obtaining his
assistance to do any work without any reasonable excuse;
loitering about during working hours or idling or malingering when
engaged in work or being negligent;
defacing or damaging any wall, furniture or other property of a centre;
eating or appropriating any food not assigned to him, or increasing or
decreasing the portion of any food assigned to another inmate, without the
permission of an officer or without any reasonable excuse;
removing any food or drink from a kitchen or from a place where meals
are served in a centre without the permission of an officer or without any
reasonable cause, or disobeying any order of an officer in respect of the
issue and distribution of any food or drink in the centre without any
reasonable excuse;
introducing into any food or drink in a centre anything likely to render it
unpalatable or unwholesome;
refusing, without any reasonable cause, to eat any food assigned to him in
accordance with a centre’s diet scale;
wilfully destroying any food in a centre or throwing it away without the
permission of an officer or without any reasonable cause;
omitting or refusing to wear any clothing issued to him in a centre or
exchanging the clothing for that of another inmate, or damaging or
altering any clothing issued to him or another inmate in the centre without
the permission of an officer or without any reasonable excuse, or losing or
discarding the clothing;
removing, defacing or altering without any reasonable excuse any
distinctive number, mark or badge to be attached to, or worn on, the body
or any clothing issued in a centre;
omitting or refusing to keep any utensil or clothing clean or disobeying
any lawful order as to the arrangement or disposition of the utensil or
clothing or any blanket, bedsheet or personal belonging in a centre;
tampering with a centre’s lock, lamp or electrical fitting, or any other
property in the centre with which he has no concern;
damaging or omitting or refusing to take due care of any property of a
centre which has been entrusted to him;
Misuse of Drugs (Approved
Institutions) (Discipline)
Regulations
CAP. 185, Rg 5]
p. 13
spitting on or otherwise soiling or befouling any floor, door, wall or other
part of a centre’s building or any article therein;
littering;
omitting to report at once or as soon as possible any loss, destruction,
breakage or damage which he has caused to any property of a centre;
stealing a centre’s property or that of another inmate;
damaging or destroying a tree or plant within the enclosure of a centre
without the permission of an officer or without any reasonable excuse;
showing disrespect to any officer, probation officer, supervision officer or
visitor;
answering untruthfully any question put to him by any officer, probation
officer, supervision officer or visitor;
omitting, without any reasonable excuse, to assist in the maintenance of
discipline by not reporting the commission of an offence in a centre, or to
assist an officer to investigate into the commission of the offence when
called upon to do so;
making any instrument for shooting, cutting or stabbing or any weapon
without the knowledge or permission of an officer;
causing violence or insubordination of any kind in a centre or omitting,
without any reasonable excuse, to assist in the suppression of violence or
insubordination of any kind when called upon by an officer to do so;
omitting or refusing, without any reasonable excuse, to help an officer to
prevent another inmate from escaping from a centre;
any other act, conduct or neglect to the prejudice of good order or
discipline in a centre;
contravention of any condition under regulation 12(2) or 13(1)(b), (c), (d),
, (g) or (h) of the Misuse of Drugs (Approved Institutions, Medical
Observation and Treatment and Rehabilitation) Regulations; and
abetting the commission of a minor offence.
[S 262/2026 wef 01/05/2026]
PART II
MAJOR OFFENCES
For the purposes of regulation 8, the major offences are —
Misuse of Drugs (Approved
Institutions) (Discipline)
Regulations
p. 14
[CAP. 185, Rg 5
bringing any controlled drug, psychoactive substance, intoxicating
substance, medication, money or Part 3A product into a centre without
the permission of an officer, or concealing any controlled drug,
psychoactive substance, intoxicating substance, medication, money or
Part 3A product in a centre;
wilfully causing to himself any illness, injury or disability;
wilfully destroying a centre’s property;
aggravated or repeated assault on another inmate;
taking part in any assault or attack on any officer, official visitor or any
person working, or providing rehabilitative and other related services, in
the centre;
escaping or attempting to escape from a centre;
mutiny;
wilfully making a false or groundless accusation or complaint against any
inmate, officer, official visitor or any person working, or providing
rehabilitative and other related services, in the centre;
committing any act constituting a minor offence as set out in Part I of the
Schedule that is committed by one or more members or associates of a
secret society in connection with the activities of any secret society,
whether or not all the other members of the secret society are present;
committing any minor offence after having previously committed the
same minor offence at least twice;
any other act of gross misconduct or insubordination;
doing any of the following while on leave granted under regulation 12 or
13 of the Misuse of Drugs (Approved Institutions, Medical Observation
and Treatment and Rehabilitation) Regulations:
consuming any controlled drug, psychoactive substance or specified
psychoactive substance;
possessing —
any controlled drug or psychoactive substance; or
any Part 3A product that contains a specified psychoactive
substance;
contravention of regulation 13(1)(a) or (e) of the Misuse of Drugs
(Approved
Institutions,
Medical
Observation
and
Treatment
and
Rehabilitation) Regulations; and
Misuse of Drugs (Approved
Institutions) (Discipline)
Regulations
CAP. 185, Rg 5]
p. 15
abetting the commission of a major offence.
[S 262/2026 wef 01/05/2026]
[S 484/2024 wef 01/06/2024]
[G.N. Nos. S 137/79; S 182/82; S 51/90; S 325/91;
S 278/95]
Misuse of Drugs (Approved
Institutions) (Discipline)
Regulations
p. 16
[CAP. 185, Rg 5
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