54
The authorized establishment of Subordinate Staff for 1938 was:
European Officers 65 Indian Officers 235 Chinese Staff 55 Male Staff 355 Female Officers 28 Total Subordinate Staff 383The total number of persons committed to prison in the year 1938 was 15,046 as compared with 17,088 in 1937. The daily average number of prisoners in the prisons in 1938 was 2,556. The highest previous average was 2,493 in 1937. Over 85% of prisoners admitted are persons born outside the Colony. The percentage of convicted prisoners admitted to prison with previous convictions recorded against them was 24.3 as compared with 21.6 in 1937 and 15.9 in 1936. The percentage of male prisoners with previous convictions was 26.1.
No measures exist at present for the mental training of prisoners. Prisoners may, however, purchase books for their own use; they also have access to books, English and Chinese, from the prisoners' library.
Spiritual training is confined to visits paid on Sundays by officially appointed Chaplains and by approved preachers and laymen.
The confinement and training of young offenders is carried out in the Juvenile Remand Home in Hong Kong. The Home is administered by the Commissioner of Police. The establishment of an institution to be run somewhat on the lines of an English Borstal institution is under consideration.
No system of after-care is in operation. After-care would present peculiar difficulties in this Colony where a large number of prisoners who are not British subjects are banished to South China on release. Apart from this, with the present large influx of refugees, so much help is required for the poorer class of Chinese in Hong Kong that public support for the introduction of a system of after-care for released prisoners could hardly be expected at the present time.
The health of the prisoners generally was well maintained and the discipline in the prisons was good.
Prisoners are employed in printing, bookbinding, shoemaking, tinsmithing, mat-making, tailoring, carpentering, weaving, gardening, laundry work, cleaning and minor repairs to buildings. The bulk of Government printing and bookbinding is done in Hong Kong Prison.
The total cost of each prisoner per annum (average) was $276.10.
The cost of feeding each prisoner per annum (average) was $92.68.
An estimate of the pecuniary value of an average prisoner's work, calculated on the basis of the work performed which has a definite monetary value as apart from domestic prison tasks or other unproductive employment, was $123.36 per annum.
Remand Homes.
During the year 218 boys underwent sentences of detention for various crimes at the Remand Home for Juveniles (Boys), and 71 girls underwent detention at the Remand Home for Girls. These institutions are not under prison administration. The boys are given instruction in elementary reading and writing and in rattan work. The girls are given employment in house work, laundry, and making and mending clothes. There are recreation facilities at both Homes.
There are four Probation Officers, two males and two females, attached to the Homes.
54
The authorized establishment of Subordinate Staff for 1938 was:
European Officers
Indian Officers
Chinese Staff
Male Staff
Female Officers
Total Subordinate Staff
65
235
55
355
28
383
The total number of persons committed to prison in the year 1938 was 15,046 as compared with 17,088 in 1937. The daily average number of prisoners in the prisons in 1938 was 2,556. The highest previous average was 2,493 in 1937. Over 85% of prisoners admitted are persons born outside the Colony. The percentage of convicted prisoners admitted to prison with previous convictions recorded against them was 24.3 as compared with 21.6 in 1937 and 15.9 in 1936. The percentage of male prisoners with previous convictions was 26.1.
No measures exist at present for the mental training of prisoners. Prisoners may, however, purchase books for their own use; they also have access to books, English and Chinese, from the prisoners' library.
Spiritual training is confined to visits paid on Sundays by officially appointed Chaplains and by approved preachers and laymen.
The confinement and training of young offenders is carried out in the Juvenile Remand Home in Hong Kong. The Home is administered by the Commissioner of Police. The establishment of an institution to be run somewhat on the lines of an English Borstal institution is under consideration.
No system of after-care is in operation. After-care would present peculiar difficulties in this Colony where a large number of prisoners who are not British subjects are banished to South China on release. Apart from this, with the present large influx of refugees, so much help is required for the poorer class of Chinese in Hong Kong that public support for the introduction of a system of after-care for released prisoners could hardly be expected at the present time.
The health of the prisoners generally was well maintained and the discipline in the prisons was good.
Prisoners are employed in printing, bookbinding, shoemaking, tinsmithing, mat- making, tailoring, carpentering, weaving, gardening, laundry work, cleaning and minor repairs to buildings. The bulk of Government printing and bookbinding is done in Hong Kong Prison.
The total cost of each prisoner per annum (average) was $276.10.
The cost of feeding each prisoner per annum (average) was $92.68.
An estimate of the pecuniary value of an average prisoner's work, calculated on the basis of the work performed which has a definite monetary value as apart from domestic prison tasks or other unproductive employment, was $123.36 per
annum.
Remand Homes.
During the year 218 boys underwent sentences of detention for various crimes at the Remand Home for Juveniles (Boys), and 71 girls underwent detention at the Remand Home for Girls. These institutions are not under prison administration. The boys are given instruction in elementary reading and writing and in rattan work. The girls are given employment in house work, laundry, and making and mending clothes. There are recreation facilities at both Homes.
There are four Probation Officers, two males and two females, attached to the Homes.
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