NCJ Number
207386
Date Published
2003
Length
124 pages
Annotation
This 2003 Annual Report of the Hong Kong Correctional Services provides data and information on operations and institutional management, rehabilitation, human resource management, quality assurance, administration, correctional services industries, and environmental protection.
Abstract
The correctional commissioner's overall appraisal of the year in corrections is that institutional overcrowding (114 percent of capacity) continued to impose a burden on staffing, facilities, and resources, but custodial and rehabilitative programs were effectively implemented through strategic partnerships and the leveraging of resources. Prison admissions in 2003 increased by 9.4 percent, from 24,366 in 2002 to 26,659 in 2003. There was a 12.6-percent increase in discharges. The female penal population reached a record high of 3,007 on October 11, 2003, creating an occupancy rate of 197 percent in female institutions. This led to the conversion of a male prison into a 220-bed female prison as an interim measure. In the course of the SARS outbreak in the first half of 2003, contingency planning and timely action prevented any infections in Hong Kong's penal institutions. The pilot Enhanced Reintegration Program for inmates between the ages of 21 and 25 substituted full-time vocational training for workshop production in an effort to prepare inmates for skilled jobs upon release. Partnerships with community organizations continued in an effort to make community services and job opportunities more conducive to ex-inmate reintegration. International endeavors included a staff exchange program with the Correctional Service of Canada and a structured program of cooperation with the Singapore Prisons Department. Data cover inmate, parole, and probation statistics, staff resources, and expenditures.