PUBLIC ORDER
Since the closure of the last detention centre for Vietnamese migrants in June 1998, all Vietnamese illegal immigrants are now detained in Victoria Prison after quarantine in the Green Island Reception Centre on arrival.
Building projects under planning or construction include the redevelopment of Stanley Prison and Tai Lam Correctional Institution and the expansion of the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre to cope with the perennial overcrowding problem in correctional institutions.
Penal Population
In 1999, the penal population remained high and averaged 10 per cent over the certified accommodation, with prisons for adults being the major pressure points. Despite overcrowding which stretched resources, the CSD continued to implement its correctional programmes effectively.
In 1999, 14 186 adult offenders (10 388 males and 3 798 females) were sentenced to imprisonment, and 5 764 adult offenders (4 745 males and 1019 females) were received for custody on remand. The number of young offenders sentenced to imprisonment totalled 1 017 (670 males and 347 females), and 736 young offenders (603 males and 133 females) were received for custody on remand. Besides, 470 young offenders (439 males and 31 females) were sentenced to detention in training centres or the detention centre, and 1 369 offenders (1 196 males and 173 females) to drug addiction treatment centres. Inmates discharged from training centres, detention. centres and drug addiction treatment centres, discharged young prisoners subject to the Criminal Procedure Ordinance as well as those discharged under the Release Under Supervision Scheme, Pre-release Employment Scheme, Conditional Release Scheme and the Post-release Supervision of Prisoners Scheme have to undergo different statutory periods of supervision. During the year, 706 supervisees (624 males and 82 females) were recalled for breach of supervision conditions.
Pre-sentence Assessment Panel
Young persons aged between 14 and 20, who are convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment, may be remanded in custody for a period not exceeding three weeks for assessment of their suitability for admission to a training centre or detention centre and making recommendations to the courts. Young adults aged between 21 and 24 may be similarly remanded for admission to the detention centre.
Pre-sentence assessments are made by CSD staff so that recommendations may be made to the courts on the suitability of offenders for detention in a detention centre, training centre or drug addiction treatment centre. The Pre-sentence Assessment Panel investigates all cases referred by the courts, and prepares suitability reports for them. In 1999, 5 715 offenders were remanded for suitability reports, and the panel found 1 043 males and 54 females suitable for admission to a detention centre or a training centre, and 1 631 males and 267 females suitable for admission to a drug addiction treatment centre.
Young Offender Assessment Panel
The Young Offender Assessment Panel, comprising representatives from the CSD and the Social Welfare Department, makes recommendations to magistrates and judges on the most appropriate programmes of rehabilitation for young male offenders aged between 14 and 24 and females aged 14 to 20. In 1999, the panel
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