No. 1903
7
HONGKONG.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF VICTORIA GAOL, FOR THE YEAR 1902.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
VICTORIA GAOL,
HONGKONG, 10th February, 1903.
SIR, I have the honour to submit, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the following report on the Victoria Gaol, for the year 1902.
2. The number of prisoners committed to the Gaol under sentences from the Ordinary Courts was 5,786, besides 149 soldiers and sailors sentenced by the Military and Naval Authorities. There were 53 prisoners admitted for debt, making a total of 5,988.
3. The corresponding numbers for the preceding year were respectively as follows:-
Convicted by the Ordinary Courts,
Sentenced by the Military and Naval Authorities, Debtors,
In default of finding security,
4,858
182
29
Total,....
......5,077
4. The percentage of prisoners admitted with previous convictions recorded against them to the total number of admissions was 113 as compared with a percentage of 13:37 for the year 1901.
5. The following table shows the daily average number of prisoners confined in the Gaol during the past 10 years :—
1893,
1894,
1895,
1896,
1897,
1898,
1899,
1900,
1901, 1902,
...458
...455
.472
.....514
........462
.511
.432
.486
...499
....576
50-21.3.03.
6. The Superintendent of the Gaol, in paragraph 10 of the Annual Report for the year 1898 (during which year the daily average number of prisoners in the Gaol was 511), called attention to the inadequacy of the Gaol accommodation. The question was again raised in paragraph 12 of the Superintendent's Annual Report on the Gaol for the year 1900, when accommodation for 570 prisoners was given as the total capacity of the Gaol.
7. During the year under review and especially in the month of May, when for several days the number of prisoners confined in the Gaol went up to 749, the Gaol was very much overcrowded.
For 171 days during the year the daily population of the Gaol varied between 571 and 749 prisoners and on 75 days of that period the numbers were over 600. During the latter part of the year a number of prisoners were located in the corridors, cell accommodation being insufficient.