ENG-1968 — Page 224

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PUBLIC ORDER

Adult male prisoners awaiting trial and all male prisoners after conviction are received at Victoria Reception Centre. Convicted prisoners on completion of reception procedure including a thorough medical examination appear before a classification board for assign- ment to an institution best suited to their needs. The centre has adequate hospital facilities and also a psychiatric observation unit staffed by fully trained personnel under a consultant psychiatrist.

All women prisoners are received and housed at Lai Chi Kok Prison, which had an average inmate population of 162. This institution will be replaced in the early part of 1969 with a new prison at Tai Lam.

The open prison system, which has continued to be very successful in Hong Kong, is used whenever possible; experience has shown that an environment in which prisoners lead healthy outdoor lives, doing interesting work of a constructive nature, leads to more successful rehabilitation. Open prisons with an average population of 1,792 are situated on Lantau Island in the New Territories and a considerable amount of beneficial work has been done on com- munity, forestry and building projects of various kinds.

Stanley Prison is the largest security establishment in the Colony, with an average prison population of 2,894, and houses all prisoners not considered suitable for the treatment centre or the open institu- tions. It is the main industrial centre where, among other productive industries, tailoring, shoe-making, rattanware, metalware and car- pentry are concentrated. The value of industrial production at Stanley in 1968 amounted to over $1,923,000.

A large percentage of convicted male prisoners are found on admission to be drug-dependent. The treatment centre at Tai Lam offers special facilities for drug-dependents and it has achieved encouraging results, through a unique programme, developed since 1958 when the centre was opened. All necessary phases of treatment are followed, including after-care. An extensive programme of research is also carried out, details of which are published yearly. The average inmate population of the centre is 562. The Drug Addiction Treatment Centres Ordinance 1968 marked progress in the field of treatment and rehabilitation of drug-dependents. A court is now able to order a person known drug-dependent person to be detained in a Treatment Centre from six to 18 months in lieu of