ENG-1994 — Page 388

PUBLIC ORDER

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All convicted prisoners who are medically fit are required by law to work six days per week. Prisoners are paid for their work, and they can use their earnings to purchase food extras and other canteen items approved by the management. More importantly, they acquire the habit of doing useful work through participation in industrial production, which will eventually help them to find a job after release.

The Correctional Services Industries Section runs various trades, the largest two being the laundry trade and garment-making. Other trades include carpentry, silk-screening, printing, envelope-making, book-binding, shoe-making, knitting, fibreglass work, metal work, leather work and precast concreting. The commercial value of goods and services provided for the year was estimated at $371 million.

Detention Centres

The award of automatic refugee status to Vietnamese people reaching Hong Kong was discontinued following a change in policy on June 16, 1988. In May 1990, the department ceased to be responsible for managing closed centres for refugees, a task first undertaken in July 1982.

Under the existing policy, Vietnamese people arriving in Hong Kong are screened by immigration officers, while being held in detention centres, to determine their status. Those screened-in as refugees are transferred to open centres, while those screened-out remain in the detention centres until arrangements can be made for their repatriation. Any person who has been screened-out may appeal to a Refugee Status Review Board, which has the power to overturn that decision.

The department manages four centres for Vietnamese migrants held pending their screening or repatriation. These are the detention centres at Chi Ma Wan, Whitehead and High Island; and the reception centre at Green Island.

Voluntary agencies, co-ordinated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, continue to provide valuable services in the detention centres, complementing those provided by the department.

Staff Training

The department's Staff Training Institute is responsible for the planning and implementation of training programmes for both new and serving officers.

All recruit officers and assistant officers must undergo a recruit training course for a period of 26 weeks and 23 weeks, respectively. The training syllabus covers the relevant laws of Hong Kong, rules and regulations, counselling, social work, administration and management, psychology, criminology and social studies, first-aid, foot-drill, self-defence, emergency response tactics, physical training, weapons training, field placement and adventure training.

Developmental training and specialist training are provided throughout the year for serving officers to update their professional knowledge, to prepare them for promotion and to equip selected officers for duties in specialised fields such as after-care, nursing, psychological services, dog-handling, emergency services and physical education. Weekly in-service training is carried out within institutions to cater for their operational needs.

Attachment training to other government departments and overseas institutions is also organised, from time to time, for officers of middle management level and above.