HONG KONG STANDARD
OCT 4th
Oct
73.
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Drugs openly for sale in
HK prison
DRUGS are still being bought and sold openly in Stanley Prison. "Prisoners do not have proper food and are controlled by triad societies working with some prison officers," according 10 American-Chinese youth released last week from Hongkong's largest prison.
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The youth hed earlier served a longer spell at Victoria Western Centre after being sentenced to ning months' imprisonment for failure to pay his hotel bills.
One of the first things be did on release was to walk into the Hongkong Standard office to "expose" prison conditions in Hongkong, which he described as the worst be's ever heard of.
The tale be unfolded throws into limelight once again the question of prison reforms
which Prison Commissioner Mr Tom Garner has spoken of on many occasions.
The
tall, well educated, ex-prisoner gave the following account of his life at Stanley, which described as the
worst of three prisons he spent time in (the others were Chimawan and Victoria).
STAFF: "They are major source of drugs and I
Ex-convict makes
charges of malpractices
estimate that 75 per cent are corrupt. They are also involved in collection going to the
families
with prisoners' payment slips to collect. But there are some very decent ones, and I got to know some of them. There was this chap who refused to be involved. Ile's very, studious - just kept studying his books and is very friendly with prisoners. But he You gets promoted. know these nice guys they never get their pips. I don't know why. But the bad ones ill-treat
never
P
prisoners, especially those whose families don't pay. It's simple walk into his cell and beat him up. No one can
see.
DRUGS: "About 70 per cent of the prisoners take drugs (Mr Garner estimates it at 80 per cent) and it's a way of life
like food. The price went up very quickly the time I was there: from: $100 for 25 capsules to
$100 for 15 capsules now.
+
"Those who inhale, tear strips off their clothes to roll them in. The buyer uses his ration of apples, oranges, eggs, bread and also his pocket money. We were supposed to get half a pound of cheese every week; this comes into the prison but we got little of it. Drugs are the worst problem; it's done openly and the officers are the backbone.”
● TRIADS: "They run the prisoners and the drug trade, and there's nothing you can do to break it. The 14K is the most powerful, but there are also others. And how powerful you are depends on the number of weapons you have; fighting breaks out very often as they fight each other for .control.
Gangsters
"How do they get their weapons? Home-made. A lot is bought from prison officers. If you have money you can get anything you want. Some of the staff are gangsters outside, I was told by some prisoners, and they applied for the job so that they could operate from inside with their colleagues. This has created a big social pobicin, such as the failure to consolidate social reforms among prisoners so that they can get a better deal or better education. But the triad leaders don't care as long as their drug control is not affected.”
19/3 HKK +*+7..
FOOD: A number of prisoners apparently suffer from malnutrition because there are all sorts of sores and skin diseases. The plates and cups are often unwashed before the next chap uses them. When a doctor comes in to inspect what he sees are a few nice clean plates at the top 812 he goes away quite satisfied. Below the pile the others are unwashed. You eat sitting on the floor".
• Education: “That's a bit of a joke because they would ask who wants to study English and a group volunteers. The teacher comes in there are no books or pens and he osks "Well what do you want to learn?" And everybody keeps quiet and he would leave after a
while. I often had problems getting to the library. They allow you, but they discourage it. Excuses like 'We don't have any staff to take you there' or when you're there the librarian would say 'Look you've got to leave I'm locking up' just when you've found a book."
Of the three prisons. Stanley, he said, was the worst place for being beaten up by other prisoners. "Either you're one of them or you're not, in which case you get beaten". He was lucky because he knew a prison warden at Victoria with whom he got on well, and he spread the word around to the prisoners to leave him alone.
He never had any trouble Although he was an American-Chinese he was put together with the Chinese at Stanley unlike at Victoria where he was celled with between eight to ten foreigners.
Chimawan was the worst for being beaten up by the officers. "At Victoria you work long hours from 7.30 am to 8.30 pm
but it's not þad/ really,'
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