XN000022-1973-06-08 — Page 8

Friday, June 8, 1973

OLD COMPOUND CONVERTED TO TRAINING/DETENTION CENTRE

EET

Some 250 young offenders will be transferred to the former Chatham

Road Compound tomorrow in a Prisons Department move to relieve overcrowding

at the Stanley Training Centre.

Announcing this today, a spokesman for the department said the old

compound has been renamed the Chatham Training /Detention Centre.

The new centre, which will be used for two years, will have accommodation

for up to 500 inmates, compared to 191 at Stanley.

It will also relieve the chronic overcrowding at the Victoria

Reception Centre as those now remanded there for training or detention centre

reports will be housed in the Chatham Road centre.

The spokesman stressed that the move is purely a temporary measure

to solve the problem of overcrowding before the completion of new centres.

"Two such centres have been planned one at Lai Chi Kok and another

at Pik Uk," he said.

No final decision has yet been made on the future of the vacated

Stanley Training Centre.

"But it is certain that the Prisons Department will be making use

of this centre in the very near future," the spokesman added.

/3