prisoners serving sentences of one month or less, persons held in custody pending deportation, persons on remand, vagrants and debtors were housed there at the end of 1948. It is hoped that dormitory accommodation for a further 200 convicted prisoners with workshops and assembly hall will be provided in 1949.
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Lai Chi Kok female prison has two large dormitories with accommodation for 80 prisoners in each, 24 cells for convicted prisoners, and separate accommodation for 22 persons on remand or awaiting deportation. Flower and vegetable gardens have been laid out and industries include laundry work, sewing and weaving. There were 287 persons in the prison at the end of the
year.
A Boys' Reformatory has been opened at Maryknoll in build- ings which were adapted from four food storage huts to house 100 boys. A schoolroom, workshops, dormitory, recreation room, kitchen, dining room and sick bay are provided. There are at pre- sent 72 boys in the Reformatory.
Considerable progress has been made generally during the year in providing more accommodation and greater facilities for classification of prisoners. It is planned to construct a penal labour camp in 1949 to provide accommodation for 700 prisoners.
Prisoners.
The total number of prisoners committed during the year was 24,941, including 3,596 women and 64 Reformatory boys as compared with a total of 14,743 last year. The daily average population was 3,165 including 224 women and 75 Reformatory boys. The majority of the prisoners, 13,964, served sentences of less than a month. Out of a total number of 3,468 prisoners at the end of the year, 3,346 were Chinese, 95 were Japanese, 23 were Europeans and 4 were Indians. Definite progress has been made during the latter part of the year in finding increasing means of putting prisoners to industrial and unskilled labour by which they contribute to the cost of their maintenance.
Staff.
The European establishment of 76 Prison Officers is still 18 below strength and several officers are due to retire during 1949. Many of the old Indian staff have retired on account of age or infirmity and the total remaining at the end of the year was 74. There has been a definite improvement, owing to the increased pay now offered, in the type of man now applying for employment, and a higher standard of efficiency in the locally recruited staff. All recruits are now required to take a course of
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