PUBLIC ORDER
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maximum benefit from the programme. Its success is reflected in statistics that show that about 75 per cent have not been reconvicted of any offence three years after their release. Release is followed by 12 months' compulsory supervision under an after-care officer.
After-care supervision is a vital aspect of both the training and detention centre programmes. The officer on after-care duties builds up a good working relationship with an inmate and his family during the inmate's time in a centre, and then regularly visits him after his release. On these visits the officer acts as a guide and counsellor, at the same time checking that the person under supervision obeys the conditions of his supervision order and does not get into bad company.
Drug Addiction Treatment
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The Prisons Department runs the only compulsory drug addiction treatment and rehabilitation programme in Hong Kong. This programme provides the courts with an alternative to imprisonment for drug dependants found guilty of minor offences. The two addiction treatment centres at Tai Lam and Hei Ling Chau, which in- corporates a young inmates' centre, provide accommodation for 1,676 male inmates. A section of the Tai Lam Centre for Women is also set aside for this purpose.
The treatment programme, enacted by law in 1969, is based on discipline, physical activity mainly in the open air, and the complete absence of drugs. Its success rate has been outstanding by world standards; from 1969 to the end of 1978 it was calculated to be 64 per cent. Success is defined as satisfactory completion of a one-year period of supervision after release without a further conviction, and remaining drug-free.
The Tai Lam Drug Addiction Treatment Centre, which has accommodation for 508, is used to house convicted people who have been remanded for a report as to suitability for sentence to a drug addiction treatment centre, as well as those sentenced to this form of treatment.
The largest addiction treatment centre, accommodating 1,008 inmates, is on Hei Ling Chau. Many inmates have long criminal records although their offences are of a minor nature. During the past three years, ample open-air physical work has been available for inmates who have played an important role in the development and expansion of the centre, while participating in the treatment programme. Work has started on a project for the construction of 349 staff quarters, which are urgently needed. Also on this island is the Young Inmates' Centre (accommodation 160). These inmates, aged 14 to 21, have been employed in constructing their own buildings and facilities as well as road making.
Female Offenders
The Tai Lam Centre for Women, accommodating 282, contains sections for prisoners and remands (136), drug addiction treatment inmates (116), and a young inmates' training centre (30). Due to a lack of suitable accommodation at Tai Lam, high security risk prisoners are housed in a separate section at the nearby Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, but building alterations are under way that will allow them to eventually return to Tai Lam. The programmes at the training and drug addiction treatment sections are similar to those practised in the male institutions.