ENG-1984 — Page 283

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PUBLIC ORDER

Prisoners are allocated to the various prisons depending upon the risk they present to the community and whether or not they are serving a prison sentence for the first time or have been in prison previously. Even within an institution great care is taken to provide the necessary separation of the recidivist from the less sophisticated offender.

Young Male Offenders

Prisons, training centres, a detention centre and a drug addiction treatment centre operate comprehensive and distinctly different programmes for the corrective training of young male offenders. The daily average number of young men in custody was 1 203 in 1984, compared with 1 251 in 1983.

Pik Uk Correctional Institution, housing 394, is a maximum security institution which operates as a reception centre, training centre and prison for young offenders. It also holds young adults under 25 who have been convicted by the courts but remanded for reports as to their suitability for detention centre training.

Cape Collinson Correctional Institution is a training centre with facilities for 205 inmates, catering for offenders aged between 18 and 21, while Lai King Training Centre accommodates those in the 14 to 18 age group and has certified accommodation for 276.

Nei Kwu Chau Drug Addiction Treatment Centre, capable of housing 146, provides treatment for drug addicts aged between 14 and 20.

The very effective detention centre programme is conducted at Sha Tsui Detention Centre, with accommodation for 226. This medium security institution has two sections: one for detainees aged between 14 and 20 years and the other for those between 21 and 24. Lai Sun Correctional Institution, which became fully operational in March, is a medium security institution on Hei Ling Chau Island, with accommodation for 360. It caters for young prisoners aged between 14 and 20.

Female Offenders

Women sentenced to imprisonment follow routines and programmes specially designed for their needs. Adults are housed at Tai Lam Centre for Women in the New Territories, where the majority are employed in a large industrial laundry which provides a service for government hospitals and other government departments. This centre also has a separate section for the treatment of women sentenced under the Drug Addiction Treatment Centres Ordinance.

Young female prisoners under 21 years of age and young women sentenced under the Training Centres Ordinance are accommodated in separate sections at Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution.

Drug Addiction Treatment

A compulsory placement programme for the treatment of convicted male drug addicts is administered on Hei Ling Chau. This centre provides treatment within the institution for a maximum period of 12 months followed by compulsory supervision for a further year after release. In the latter part of 1983, there was a marked increase in young addicts which made it necessary to convert Nei Kwu Chau Correctional Institution into an addiction treatment centre for young men. This accommodated 1 002 male inmates by year-end.

After many years' experience the department has refined treatment techniques to the extent that 'in centre' treatment has been reduced to an average period of between four and five months while the strict after-care supervision which follows ensures that the majority of those released after treatment remain drug-free. The shorter period of treatment also enables the department to treat more drug dependents within this facility without increasing the cost.