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LCQ17: Prisoners
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     Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Leung Kwok-hung in the Legislative Council today (December 2):

Question:

     Some inmates and discharged inmates have relayed to me that the Correctional Services Department ("CSD") have exploited the interests of inmates and neglected their basic needs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the quantities of blankets and warm clothing distributed by CSD to each inmate at present when the cold weather warning is in force;

(b) whether at present, CSD provides at the various penal institutions for adults the same education facilities, school hours and teaching staff as those provided at the institutions for minors; if so, of the respective numbers of teaching staff and adult inmates receiving education at present, broken down by the names of the institutions; if not, the reasons for that; of the numbers of adult inmates who took university courses in the past five years and, among them, the number of those who received subsidy from the Prisoners' Education Trust Fund for the relevant costs;

(c) whether at present, the detainees and prisoners currently receive only eight sheets of toilet paper a person per day; whether it has assessed if the toilet paper distributed by CSD is sufficient for use by those detainees and inmates who do not have an additional supply of tissue paper (limited to 10 packs totalling 70 sheets per month) from their relatives and friends; whether it will immediately increase the quantity of toilet paper to be distributed; if so, when it will be implemented;if not, of the reasons for that;

(d) of the total number of detainees and prisoners in the various institutions at present; whether each inmate is required to carry out work at the prison workshops or other locations as arranged by CSD, and the number of inmates who are working at present, broken down by the amount and level of their monthly wage; if not, of the current number of inmates who do not accept work arrangement and the reasons for that; and

(e) of the market value of the products and services provided by CSD to the various government departments and the Hospital Authority in each of the past five years?

Reply:

President,

(a) In accordance with Rule 28 of the Prison Rules (Cap 234A), every prisoner shall be provided with blankets adequate for warmth and health. At present, the Correctional Services Department (CSD) provides every prisoner with five blankets in winter. When the Hong Kong Observatory issues the Cold Weather Warning or when there is a sudden change in weather, additional blankets will be provided to prisoners as appropriate. As for clothing, CSD provides every prisoner with a complete outfit of clothing adequate for warmth and health in accordance with Rule 26 of the Prison Rules. Individual prisoners who need additional blankets or clothes may make requests to the Medical Officer or CSD staff. The Department will deal with such requests on a case by case basis.

(b) At present, no day-time educational courses are provided in the adult institutions of CSD. Adult prisoners who wish to pursue studies may do so after work. Staff of CSD”¦s Education Unit will provide academic guidance and advice to those who wish to receive education voluntarily, as well as help them enrol in suitable courses and apply for relevant subsidies.

     The number of prisoners who took university courses and the number of prisoners who were granted subsidies in the past five years are shown below:

      Total number     Number of
      of prisoners     prisoners who
      who took         were granted
      university       subsidies* for
      courses          their university
                       courses
      ----------       ----------------
2004     124                  60
2005     136                  92
2006     160                 113
2007     201                  99
2008     151                  81

* The subsidies came from "Prisoners Education Trust Fund", "The Jockey Club Inmates' Education Subsidy Scheme", "New Life Foundation", "Prisoners' Education Subsidy Fund" and the Open University of Hong Kong.

(c) Convicted prisoners are regularly provided with toilet paper in fixed quantities: one roll every three weeks for the male and two rolls each month for the female. As for unconvicted persons remanded in CSD's reception centres, having regard to their high mobility and that most of them would use the daily commodities supplied by their family and friends, in order to avoid wastage, each of them is provided with eight sheets of toilet paper per day. Nonetheless, either convicted prisoners or persons on remand can make a request to CSD's duty officers for additional toilet paper should they have such a need.

(d) According to CSD's statistics, as at November 20, 2009, the number of unconvicted adults detained in correctional institutions was 1,346, while that of convicted adult prisoners was 7,792.

     In accordance with Rule 38 of the Prison Rules, all convicted adult prisoners are required to engage in work as arranged by CSD, unless they have been certified by the Medical Officer of CSD as unfit for work on medical grounds. According to the figures of November 2009, 7,247 convicted adult prisoners were arranged to work and 509 prisoners were not. The latter included prisoners who were unable to engage in work due to health reasons, and newly convicted prisoners who were attending induction courses and therefore have yet to start working.  Unconvicted adults remanded in correctional institutions may take up work on a voluntary basis. According to the figures of November 2009, about 40 unconvicted persons on remand engaged in work voluntarily.

     Prisoners engaged in work are paid according to their job grades.  The grades and the respective amounts of earnings, as well as the number of adult prisoners at different wage levels (as at November 2009) are tabulated below:

Grade    Weekly amount          Number of
-----    of earnings ($)        prisoners
         ----------------       ---------
Basic#        18.8                 509

       Apprentice  Skilled   Apprentice  Skilled
       ----------  -------   ----------  -------
A        35.44      50.86       151        616
B        41.97      63.54       515        783
C        47.74      76.21       166        889
D        60.77     101.36       123      1,439
E        73.65     127.11        98      1,858
F        86.11     152.62         5        604

# Prisoners who are unable to carry out work due to health reasons, and newly convicted prisoners who are attending induction courses and therefore have yet to start working belong to the basic level.

(e) The estimated commercial value of products and services provided by the Correctional Services Industries (CSI) between 2004 and 2008 is as follows:

Year     Estimated commercial
         value of CSI
         products and services^
         ($ millions)
----     ----------------------
2004              463
2005              462
2006              444
2007              455
2008              441

^ The Industries and Vocational Training Section of CSD provides products and services to government departments and public organisations on a cost recovery basis. As only direct production costs such as material and transportation costs are recovered, no additional revenue will be generated for CSD. The "commercial value" of products and services set out above is for reference only. It represents the approximate expenditure to be incurred by the relevant departments for acquiring the same products and services through external procurement, but not the costs charged by CSD.

Ends/Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:07

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