Ex-prison officer acted as go-between for inmate

A prison officer who passed unauthorised messages and documents between an inmate in maximum security and his wife was jailed for two weeks yesterday.

Parameswaran Selvadurai, a 10-year veteran of the Singapore Prison Service, admitted acting as a go-between on two occasions.

One involved conveying an OCBC bank form to inmate Sashikumar Rathakrishnana, 34, from the man's wife, Ms Bavani Jayapalan.

Parameswaran, 35, also brought out a photocopy of a letter sent to the inmate, who was in maximum security for secret society activity, and gave it to Ms Bavani.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ilona Tan said Parameswaran contacted Sashikumar's wife in 2010 after the inmate said he wanted to speak to his family urgently. He also gave his mobile phone number to Ms Bavani, and they subsequently struck up a platonic friendship, meeting on several occasions despite the officer not being authorised to contact her.

Around mid-2010, Ms Bavani asked Parameswaran to help her by getting her husband to sign a bank form. He agreed and brought the document into Changi Prison when he reported for work the next day.

A few months later, he told Ms Bavani that Sashikumar had been receiving letters from an unidentified female named Jennifer. He made a copy of one of the letters and gave it to Ms Bavani outside the prison.

His offences were discovered by his employer only in September 2011. Parameswaran, who is a Malayian, has lost his permanent residency status. He could have been fined up to $3,000 and/or jailed for up to 12 months on each charge.

Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.