ENG-1979 — Page 189

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PUBLIC ORDER

Prisons Department The Commissioner of Prisons in 1979 was responsible for the overall administration of 17 penal institutions, a half-way house, a staff training institute and several Vietnamese refugee camps. The Prisons Department has an establishment of 3,664 uniformed staff and 584 civilian staff.

In 1979, the average daily penal population was 6,108 compared with 6,676 in 1978. In addition, the department, at times, was responsible for up to 11,000 Vietnamese refugees and also variously held in detention up to 4,500 people who claimed to be Vietnamese refugees, pending investigation of their circumstances. This additional burden meant that 1979 was one of the busiest years in the department's history.

Of the large numbers of Vietnamese refugees who came to Hong Kong in 1979, most, at some stage, were in the care of prison officers. Initially, 50 prison officers were seconded to receive refugees from the Panamanian freighter, Huey Fong, into the Kai Tak camp. As the influx escalated, 70 more officers were transferred to administer the Government Dockyard, Ma Tau Wai camp and Argyle Street camp. Invaluable assistance in operating these camps was given by the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, the Civil Aid Services and the Auxiliary Medical Service. The department's resources were also stretched in the course of the year by the periodic need to use some of its institutions to accommodate both Vietnamese refugees and others claiming Vietnamese refugee status.

Financial restraints by the government led to a cut-back in the Prisons Department's building programme during 1979. In particular, two projects are considered vital by the department. They are the extension to the Staff Training Institute, to relieve severe overcrowding, and the continuing construction of a maximum security prison at Shek Pik on Lantau Island.

Adult Prisons

For adult males, the department operates eight prisons and a psychiatric centre. The full certified accommodation of these institutions is 5,049 but by the end of the year only 4,085 places were available because of the accommodation needed for Vietnamese refugees and those professing to be Vietnamese refugees.

There has been a continuing decline in the adult prisoner population and the average daily population was 3,895 in 1979, compared with 4,079 in 1978. While the situation is reasonably comfortable in medium and minimum security prisons, there has been disquiet over occasional overcrowding at the two maximum security prisons.

Stanley Prison, the department's largest prison, was opened in 1937. It is a maximum security institution with accommodation for 1,605 inmates, who are accommodated one to a cell. The safe confinement of an ever-increasing number of life and long-term prisoners, many of whom are highly dangerous, is of great concern to the prison authorities. A new maximum security prison at Shek Pik on Lantau Island was originally scheduled to be completed in 1982, to relieve the pressure on Stanley Prison, but its construction has been deferred because of the cut back in the department's building programme. The progress of a phased scheme for the reprovisioning of Stanley has also been affected by the government's financial restraints.

The Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, with accommodation for 960 in maximum security conditions, is one of the few high-rise prisons in the world. Opened in 1977, it houses all adult males on remand, people detained under the Immigration Ordinance, debtors and newly-convicted prisoners awaiting classification and allocation. The majority of appellants, except those appealing against a sentence of death who are held at Stanley Prison, are housed in Lai Chi Kok.