| Improving the visitation process at Changi Women’s Prison |
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| A
view of the area where visitors
wait to register to see their
loved one. |
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The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) embarked on Six
Sigma as part of its efforts to better respond to
its customers’ needs.
The systematic Six Sigma problem-solving approach
comprises the following phases: Define, Measure,
Analyse, Improve and Control. By using this approach,
the team was able to achieve the objectives of their
project and statistically prove that there was an
improvement.
The goal of the project was to reduce the average
(mean) waiting time by 40% and to streamline the
entire visiting process. The total cycle time was
defined as the total elapsed time from the time
the visitor registers at the visit counter to the
time he meets the inmate at the visit cubicle.
The entire visiting process was broken down into
six sub-processes: the registration cycle, verification
wait, verification cycle, security screening wait,
security screening cycle and the visit wait.
At the start of the project, the team measured their
existing performance and found that the waiting
time ranged from 16 minutes to 115 minutes (almost
two hours!). The average waiting time was 66 minutes;
one out of four visitors had to wait for more than
82 minutes.
In this phase, the team narrowed down the problem
to three sub-processes: registration, verification
and security screening.
The main causes for the delays in each of the sub-processes
were: lack of an appointment system for visitors,
uneven distribution of workload during the week,
only a single point of entry into prisons for many
other purposes (e.g. vehicles, contractors, counsellors,
inmate releases) and lack of coordination between
the Records Office and the Visit Registration Centre.
Next, the team came up with solutions to address
each weak link in the process. The solutions included
scheduling appointment times for visitors in half-hour
time slots, spreading out the number of visitors
evenly throughout the week and improving the coordination
between the Records Office and the Visit Registration
Centre.
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This is
the place where the actual face-to-face
visit takes place. The visitor will
be on one side of the partition while
the inmate will be on the
other side. |
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One of the distinguishing features of Six Sigma
is its emphasis on sustaining the improvement in
the long term. Six months after the solutions were
implemented, the team did another round of measurements
to verify the improvements and found that the average
(mean) waiting time had been reduced by over 40%
to 38 minutes. The longest time a visitor had to
wait had also been halved to one hour compared to
two hours previously.
The project was a success as the variation in waiting
times was reduced and both the average and the longest
waiting times have been substantially reduced as
well.
With the success of its initial project, SPS is
deploying Six Sigma in three more areas: to improve
the cycle time for screening prisoners’ letters,
reduce the cycle time for admitting newly convicted
prisoners and to reduce the waiting time for visiting
prisoners at Queenstown Remand Prison.
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The man
in the black T-shirt standing near the
Visit Registration Office is registering
with the visit officer to see his loved
one
in prison. |
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Six Sigma makes use of data-driven analysis and
is not based on gut feeling, experience or the result
of a few brainstorming sessions. Furthermore, in
the Control phase, the project team ensures that
the solution is made permanent, e.g. by a change
in policy or by revising work procedures and statistically
verifying the improvements. This step is often missed
in many other process improvement methodologies
but it is essential for ensuring that improvements
are sustained in the long term. |
