(c) The number of prisoners working daily outside the prison is between 250 and 300. Apart from departmental work labour parties have been supplied to the military authorities for digging trenches and levelling camp sites, to the Urban Council for clearing stones and rocks from beaches at Repulse Bay, to the Medical Department for anti-malarial work at Tytam and to the Water Authority for clearance work at Tytam Tuk.
(d) The selection of suitable prisoners as trade instructors, messengers and for fire fighting squads. These prisoners are supplied with distinguishing arm bands. The scheme, in spite of some individual disappointments, is working well.
(e) The opening on 16th October of a separate prison for remand prisoners, debtors, destitutes and persons awaiting deportation. The Victoria Remand Prison, situated in a renovated corner of the old Victoria Gaol, is staffed by 1 Principal Officer (the officer-in-charge), 4 European officers and 15 Indian warders and has accommodation for 166 prisoners. The prisoners carry out all their own domestic duties, with the exception of cooking which is done by six first offender convicts trained in the Stanley Prison cookhouse. No convict cook can be transferred to the Remand Prison until he is within 6 months of completion of his sentence. They are kept segregated from the remand prisoners.
(f) The employment of female prisoners in garden work outside the prison at Lai Chi Kok. The garden had to be made out of a rocky site, but is now flourishing and employs about 20 women daily.
(g) The gradual replacement of bed-boards by hammocks. One complete block is now furnished with hammocks only.
6. The worst feature of the year has been the overcrowding of the Hong Kong Prison at Stanley. This was slightly relieved by the transfer of remands, destitutes, debtors and deportees to Victoria Remand Prison but the relief amounted to a daily average of about 100 persons only. To bring the prison population down to its planned figure a further 1,400 prisoners must be got rid of somehow. At the time of writing (Mid-January, 1940) the muster at the prison has exceeded the 3,000 mark and arrangements are being made for the premature release of selected prisoners, as 3,000 is the agreed figure beyond which overcrowding cannot be allowed to go—neither the staff nor the accommodation nor the equipment can stand the strain above that figure.
7. In spite of the large number of prisoners in excess of that for which there is proper provision discipline has been well maintained; but, in the circumstances, it has had to be largely the discipline of repression rather than of expression. The division of the prison into two sections has assisted considerably in the maintenance of order.
There were two large faction fights inside the prison, both occurring at the time of the evening muster on the exercise ground. The guard turned out and appeared on the scene promptly on both occasions, and apart from a warning shot (the only sound that could possibly be heard above the din) by the senior officer present on each occasion no resort was had to firearms to quell the disturbances, for which purpose the issue of heavy canes to European officers was found to be most effective. The casualties among the prisoners were few and not of a very serious nature. In August one prisoner murdered another in the printing shop by striking him with an iron bar. He was hanged on 22.11.39.
No attempt was made to escape from inside the prison, but from outside parties there was one escape (recaptured the same day) and one attempted escape.