Tuesday, January 29, 1974
INTENSIFIED EFFORT TO ERADICATE TRIAD ACTIVITIES IN PRISONS
Prisons Department And Police Plan Further Action
New measures are being worked out to stamp out triad activities within Hong Kong's penal institutions, the Commissioner of Prisons, Mr. Tom Garner,
revealed today.
"Measures have been taken and further action is being planned so that in the foreseable future triad activity within penal institutions will cease to bo the problem it has been for the past 26 years," he told a luncheon meeting
of the Kiwanis Club.
In this matter, his department was working in close liaison with the
Triad Society Bureau of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
One of the greatest problems facing a prison officer today, Mr. Garner said, was the task of looking after large numbers of prisoners, many with violent tendencies and almost all with triad background. "Currently some 75 per cent of all admissions are admitting to having some sort of affiliation
with gang or triad societies."
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Large numbers of prisoners grouped together, he went on, presented problers of supervision which could endanger programmes designed with the aim of reforming and which allowed for the proper degree of deterrence.
He disclosed that a comprehensive review of prison programmes was now underway within the department, not only to take into account the rise in crime and the change in the type of offender, but also to plan for easing the overcrowding
and improving supervision over inmates.
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