PUBLIC ORDER
272
Young Offender Assessment Panel
The Young Offender Assessment Panel, comprising staff from the Correctional Services and Social Welfare Departments, was established in April 1987 to provide magistrates with recommendations on the most appropriate programmes of rehabilitation for young offenders between 14 and 25. The service provided by the panel is available to Juvenile Courts and certain magistracies.
Education and Vocational Training
Offenders under the age of 21 attend educational and vocational training classes conducted by qualified teachers. Textbooks compiled by the department are used to provide inmates with more suitable and practical learning material matching their maturity in personality growth and development.
Adult offenders attend evening classes on a voluntary basis run by part-time teachers recruited by the department. Self-study packages and external correspondence courses are also available for those who are interested in taking part.
Both young and adult offenders are encouraged to take part in public examinations organised by the City and Guilds of London Institute, Pitman Examinations Institute, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Hong Kong Examinations Authority. Inmates are permitted to sit for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education examinations as school candidates. Some adult offenders have also participated in degree Courses offered by the local Open Learning Institute and other academic institutions. In addition, a direct referral system has also been established with the Vocational Training Council, the Construction Industry Training Authority and the Clothing Industry Training Centre to help young inmates further their training upon release.
Vocational training programmes have also been introduced for adult offenders at Ma Po Ping Prison, Tong Fuk Centre, Tai Lam Correctional Institution, Pik Uk Prison, Tung Tau Correctional Institution, and Tai Lam Centre for Women on a voluntary basis.
Medical Services
All institutions have their own medical units providing basic treatment, health and dental care, including radiodiagnostic and pathological examinations as well as prophylactic inoculations. Inmates requiring specialist treatment are either referred to a visiting consultant or transferred to public hospitals.
Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre continues to treat prisoners with mental health problems and offer psychiatric consultations and assessments for inmates referred by other institutions and the courts. In June 1991, a 150-bed extension was officially opened to ease the overcrowding of the centre. It also enabled the psychiatric observation unit at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre to revert to its former use as a general medical ward.
Ante-natal and post-natal care is provided within institutions for female inmates but babies are normally delivered in public hospitals.
Psychological Services
Clinical psychologists and specially-trained officers provide a wide range of counselling services for prisoners and inmates with emotional difficulties, behavioural or personality problems. Professional consultation is offered to the courts, relevant review boards and the management of institutions to facilitate their decision making with regard to the disposal,