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Following is a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Fernando Cheung on assistance provided for rehabilitated offenders in the Legislative Council today (March 5):
Question:
It has been reported that earlier, a newly discharged offender, allegedly because he was unable to contact over the weekend the charity organisation which assisted discharged offenders, and had lost contact with his family, and in a state of being homeless, cold and hungry, stole a meal pack in a convenience store to satisfy his hunger and was caught on the spot. The surveys conducted by some organisations also show that such persons often face immediate financial and housing problems after discharge. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has drawn up any rehabilitation programme for individual inmates due to be discharged, including persons serving short term or long term imprisonment, and whether it will assign social workers to continue to follow up, in a case management approach, their lives after discharge; and;
(b) whether it has drawn up any special measure to help offenders discharged at weekends or on public holidays solve their immediate financial and housing problems; if it has, how the authorities ensure that such persons are aware of the channels for seeking assistance; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Correctional Services Department (CSD) is committed to providing a safe and humane environment for the detention of prisoners and facilitating their return to the community after they have served their sentence through the provision of suitable rehabilitative services. Programme Officers of the Rehabilitation Division of CSD would start providing counselling to prisoners on a case management basis immediately upon their admission to penal institutions. Regular counselling services are provided to all prisoners at least once a month to help them deal with any personal adaptation problems or family difficulties that may arise from their imprisonment. Prisoners are also encouraged to join suitable rehabilitative programmes to prepare for their lives after discharge.
All prisoners are arranged to take part in a "Pre-release Reintegration Orientation Course" before discharge. The course covers general information on social services and organisations which are of particular relevance to rehabilitated offenders. It includes, for example, a brief introduction on social welfare services and community service facilities, information on government and voluntary agencies which offer assistance to rehabilitated offenders in finding jobs, job interview skills, and labour legislation.
Programme Officers would also take the initiative to identify the needs and possible difficulties prisoners may have after their discharge. With the consent of the prisoners, their cases would be referred to relevant government departments and voluntary agencies prior to their release for early follow-up actions. For instance, Programme Officers would help prisoners with potential financial or housing difficulties to apply to the Social Welfare Department (SWD) for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, or the Housing Department for public housing before discharge.
In addition to government departments, there are a number of voluntary agencies which provide services for prisoners and rehabilitated offenders. For instance, social workers from the Society for Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong (SRACP) will introduce their services to prisoners during their regular visits to penal institutions, and assist them in planning their lives after release through interviews, seminars and distribution of information leaflets. Apart from general counselling services, SRACP would help rehabilitated offenders with immediate financial or housing needs by granting them short-term cash assistance, or arranging accommodation for them in hostels provided by SRACP or other organisations. The Employment Development Unit of SRACP would also assist rehabilitated offenders in finding jobs to help them become self-reliant as early as possible.
To cater for the needs of newly-discharged rehabilitated offenders, SWD has subsidised SRACP to run a two-year trial scheme since March 2007. Under the scheme, newly-discharged rehabilitated offenders with genuine needs could be granted a short-term rent allowance for a maximum period of two months.
(b) In accordance with Rule 22A of the Prison Rules (Cap 234A), if a prisoner is due for discharge on a general holiday, he or she shall be discharged on the day next preceding that day which is not a general holiday. In other words, prisoners who have finished serving their sentence would leave a penal institution only on a non-public holiday during Monday to Saturday. They would not be discharged on a public holiday or a Sunday.
Discharged prisoners may call the 24-hour service hotline of SWD or SRACP for assistance if they need urgent financial or housing assistance outside office hours or during public holidays. Staff of SWD and SRACP would do their best to help the discharged prisoners solve their problems.
All in all, in order to make sure that rehabilitated offenders are aware of the channels for seeking assistance, social workers from SRACP would, under the existing arrangements, pay regular visits to penal institutions to brief prisoners on their services. CSD would also hand out a "Rehabilitation Hotlines" pamphlet, which contains telephone numbers and service hotlines of relevant government departments and voluntary agencies, to local prisoners on the day of their discharge. This serves as a handy reference for rehabilitated offenders in enquiring and obtaining the services and support they need.
Ends/Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:21
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