ANNUAL REPORT 2019 The death of Ong Ching Kian at Simpang Renggam Prison On 8 August 2019, SUHAKAM received a complaint on the death of a Singaporean convict on death row in the Simpang Renggam Prison in Kluang, Johor. The convict had allegedly committed suicide in his cell on 20 May 2019. A SUHAKAM delegation visited the Simpang Renggam Prison and met with the Forensics Unit of the Hospital Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom in Kluang. The following were SUHAKAM’s findings: i. Based on the feedback of the Forensics Unit, the deceased experienced a compression of his neck from a plastic rope used to hold coarse sugar. The compression stopped the oxygen in his blood from reaching his brain. His trachea was strangled, and it was impossible for him to breath. The Forensics Unit verified that there were no traces of fibre under his nails and the deceased did not struggle to save himself from the rope that he was hanging by. ii. According to the warder, he was ordered by the Prison Inspector to check the cells of death row convicts every 10 minutes. SUHAKAM found out that the Prison had brought the deceased to the Prison Clinic a day before he was found hanging from the door of his cell. The Prison informed SUHAKAM that the deceased had tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrist the day before he was found hanging in his cell. iii. The psychologist who was just transferred to the prison in 2018, said he did not receive any report on the mental state of prisoners. He believed that the prisoners‘ mental state was previously not documented for the reference of psychologists-in-charge. He took the initiative in March 2019 to record the mental state of prisoners, CHAPTER 1 v. The KDSI 1 should immediately send cadets with poor physical or health condition during the training to HAT for a proper medical examination. This should be done even if the cadet is reluctant to seek medical treatment at HAT. vi. SUHAKAM recommends and takes note that the training module for the cadets will be revised to suit older cadets who join the training. vii. The Manpower Division of the Armed Forces should not compromise in terms of the health screening and physical assessment of a cadet during the second stage of the interview. 63