Honourable Members will wish to be aware that prisoners, once they are removed, are treated as if they had been convicted and sentenced in the United Kingdom. Thus, life sentence prisoners m be released under licence by the Home Secretary on the recommendation of the Parole Board (following a formal review) after consulting the
Lord Chief Justice and the trial judge, Mr Justice T. L. Yang. In the case of
it is unlikely that the first formal review would occur before early 1983 i, e. after 7 years from first detention, but it is not possible to predict what total period they would serve before release. It is possible that they may eventually be released earlier than if they were to serve their sentences wholly in Hong Kong.
7
(a)
(b)
(c)
Arguments in favour of removal are:
to enable the prisoners, who were sent to Hong Kong with their Regiments and so did not come of their own volition, to be visited by their families. Provision exists in the Prison Rules for monthly visits by relatives and friends. On humanitarian grounds it is desirable that persons incarcerated for long periods should have the benefit of regular visits by their families and/or friends;
to release accommodation in Stanley Prison; and
to save Government the cost of imprisonment which, based on a 1977 costing, is estimated at over $30,000 per annum for the two prisoners. Both prisoners had, at 22nd March 1978, served 601 days in prison here.