PUBLIC ORDER
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Eleven prisons accommodate adult male prisoners, four being maximum security institutions. Stanley Prison and Shek Pik Prison house prisoners serving long sentences, including life imprisonment. Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre accommodates the criminally insane and those requiring psychiatric treatment. Adult males awaiting trial or remanded in custody during court hearing are detained at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre. Male civil debtors who are occasionally admitted are held in separate sections at this centre.
Ma Po Ping Prison, Tung Tau Correctional Institution and Victoria Prison function as medium security institutions for male offenders. Victoria Prison also houses illegal immigrants pending repatriation to China.
There are four minimum security institutions - Tai Lam Correctional Institution, Pik Uk Prison, Tong Fuk Centre and Ma Hang Prison. They hold prisoners who normally work outside the institutions in community projects. A special section within Ma Hang Prison has been set aside for prisoners who are certified by a medical officer to be clinically old. All convicted prisoners who are medically fit are required to work.
Young Male Offenders
The department operates four different correctional programmes for young male offenders under the Prisons, Training Centres, Drug Addiction Treatment Centres and Detention Centres Ordinances. The average daily population of young offenders in custody during 1987 was 1 073, compared with 1 062 in 1986.
Pik Uk Correctional Institution, a multi-purpose-built maximum security institution for young offenders, operates as a reception centre, a training centre as well as a prison. Young adults under 25 years of age are also detained at this institution for pre-sentence reports on their suitability for admission to a detention centre.
Lai Sun Correctional Institution on Hei Ling Chau provides accommodation for young prisoners aged between 14 and 20.
Cape Collinson Correctional Institution and Lai King Training Centre are equipped with a full range of facilities for offenders sentenced to a training centre. Cape Collinson accommodates those between the ages of 14 and 17 and Lai King accommodates those between 18 and 20.
A very effective programme is operated at Sha Tsui Detention Centre. This medium security institution has two sections, one for young offenders aged between 14 and 20 and the other for young adults between 21 and 24. The detention centre programme emphasises strict discipline, strenuous training, hard labour and a vigorous routine.
Phoenix House is a halfway house for young persons released under supervision from detention or training centres. Residents usually stay in the house for up to three months before being permitted to live at home or in other accommodation while continuing under after-care supervision. All residents of Phoenix House are required to go to work or attend school in the daytime and to return in the evening.
Female Offenders
Tai Lam Centre for Women in the New Territories provides accommodation for adult females sentenced to imprisonment. It has a remand section and a drug addiction treatment section. The majority of women are employed in a large industrial laundry which provides services to a number of government departments and public hospitals.
Female offenders under 21 years of age are accommodated at Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution, where there are separate sections for training centre inmates, drug addiction treatment centre inmates, young prisoners and remand.