ENG-1950 — Page 91

17,349 (15,740 males and 1,609 females) were sentenced to serve terms of imprisonment, of which 8,750 in respect of males and 1,006 in respect of females were for periods of under a month. In addition, 63 boys were admitted to the Reformatory as compared with 29 during 1949. The daily average population was 2,964 (2,738 males, 163 females and 63 reformatory boys). The approved accommodation is for a total of 2,341 persons.

The Prison buildings of the Colony consist of three main groups a prison for male offenders at Stanley with accommodation for 1,578 prisoners, the Victoria Prison with accommodation for 416 prisoners now used for remands, debtors, deportees and very short sentence prisoners, and a prison for women at Lai Chi Kok on the mainland with accommodation for 272 prisoners. There is also a Reformatory (Approved School) for boys under 16, with accommoda- tion for 75, which is at present under the control of the Commissioner of Prisons.

Stanley Prison, erected in 1937, is situated in rural surroundings and consists of a number of fine buildings so set out as to give a sense of space and light unusual in a penal institution. The emphasis in the post-war years has been on industrial training for long-term prisoners and manual labour for short-term prisoners. The growth of prison industries has been remarkable, and the production of good quality work continues to increase. The use of short-term prisoners on reclamation work has been successful, and the knowledge that a hard daily task awaits him is the best deterrent for the idler and loafer on the streets who might otherwise regard prison as a refuge.

All young persons (14-16) together with a selected group of boys over the age of 16 who have been committed to prison are removed from contact with adult offenders by taking them out of the prison early in the morning to work in huts outside the prison area. There are educational classes and instruction in simple trades. It is hoped in the near future to set up this training centre as a separate entity and to provide the Courts with an alternative to imprisonment for boys in their 'teens.

Victoria Prison was closed and abandoned when Stanley was opened in 1937, but it was soon realised that the herding of all prisoners, convicted and unconvicted, into Stanley was a mistake. Portions of the old gaol were therefore reopened in 1939, and the population has since steadily grown.

The Reformatory, which is the Colony's only "open" institution of this kind, is housed in buildings intended originally as food storage huts. The huts are large, airy, somewhat bare and spartan and admirably suited for their purpose. They are situated in one of the healthiest spots in Hong Kong, on the slopes of Maryknoll overlooking Tai Tam Bay on one side and Stanley Bay on the other. A maximum of 100 boys can be accommodated, but the average population is in the neighbourhood of 70. There is a competent staff of schoolmasters and trade instructors. The boys are divided into progressive grades, but the community is treated as a whole and no attempt is made to impose the barriers of the "house" system. The happy and creative atmosphere of this camp has been the

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