CO129-591-8 Policy directives 10-3-1944 - 17-8-1944 — Page 26

SECRET

HONG KONG

CIVIL AFFAIRS POLICY DIRECTIVES

4.

26

10/8/44.

PRISONS

1. During the period of military administration the

Prisons Department should be administered as a branch of the

Police Department under the general control of the Commissioner

of Police.

2. The administration of the Prisons on the same lines a8

in pre-war days should be re-introduced under the control of the

Commissioner of Police and early consideration should be given to

the adoption of the recommendations for reducing the prison

population which were advanced by the Commission on Prisons in

1939, in particular, the substitution of sentences of detention

in a labour camp for the short sentences of imprisonment which

were so numerous as to overcrowd the prisons.

This camp, if

created, should be on the Mainland.

Efforts should be made to provide useful employment

for as many prisoners as possible.

This will entail the

creation of a staff of industrial instructors for which suitably

qualified Chinese candidates might be found.

4. Special transport should be provided for the carriage

of prisoners, staff and stores between Stanley Prison and the City.

The needs of the Prison Hospital on re-occupation should

5.

be borne in mind by the Medical authorities.

6. In the re-staffing of the prisons the proportion of

non-European Prison Officers should be increased.