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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, in the Legislative Council today (March 25):
Question:
It has been reported that an incident recently occurred in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in which prison officers were held hostage by some prisoners, and such prisoners eventually committed suicide by shooting themselves in the head. These prisoners had made a number of demands and accused the authorities of applying inconsistent criteria for vetting and approval of prisoners' applications for medical parole. Regarding medical parole for prisoners in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of prisoners in Hong Kong who suffered from serious illnesses and, among them, the number of those who died as a result, in each of the past 10 years;
(2) of the number of prisoners in each of the past 10 years who submitted applications for remission of sentence or parole on grounds of serious illness, together with a breakdown by application outcome; and
(3) whether it knows the countries or places in which there are legislative provisions on prisoners' application for medical parole; whether the laws of Hong Kong allow prisoners to apply for medical parole on grounds of serious illness; if they do not, whether the authorities will amend the relevant legislation by making reference to the practices adopted in those countries or places?
Reply:
President,
Our reply to the different parts of the question is as follows:
Persons in custody (PICs) who are serving their sentences at correctional institutions enjoy the same basic medical benefits as provided to the general public. In all correctional institutions, there are hospitals or clinics which are manned by medical officers (MOs) from the Department of Health and correctional services staff with nursing qualifications providing basic medical services. PICs who feel unwell will be arranged to receive treatment from MOs at the hospitals or clinics of the institutions and, if necessary, they will be referred to visiting specialists or transferred to the specialist out-patient departments of public hospitals for treatment or hospitalisation. MOs of the institutions will follow up the cases concerned and draw reference from diagnoses, prescribed treatment plans and prognoses of the specialists on the PICs.
For cases of serious illnesses, MOs of the institutions shall, taking into account advice of specialists of public hospitals, consider making recommendations in writing to the Commissioner of Correctional Services for submission to the Chief Executive (CE) under Rule 148 of the Prison Rules whenever they are of the opinion that any PIC will not survive his sentence, or that his life will be endangered by his continuance in prison, or that he is totally or permanently unfit for prison sentence. CE may consider exercising his power under Article 48 (12) of the Basic Law to pardon the PIC concerned or commute his penalty. Over the past decade (2005-2014), a total of 58 PICs, who were mostly patients of terminal cancer, liver failure and cerebrovascular diseases, were granted early release under the above-mentioned arrangement.
Under Rule 104 of the Prison Rules, upon the death of a PIC, the Correctional Services Department shall give immediate notice to the coroner, who will hold an inquest with a jury to investigate into and draw conclusion for such a death case. Over the past decade (2005-2014), a total of 178 deaths of PICs were recorded.
Under the existing legislation, eligible PICs may apply to serve part of their sentences outside prisons under the two early release schemes specified in the Prisoners (Release Under Supervision) Ordinance. Any PIC who is serving a determinate sentence of imprisonment of three years or more and has served not less than one-half or 20 months of that sentence (whichever is the greater) is eligible to apply for early release under the Release Under Supervision Scheme. Any PIC who is serving a determinate sentence of imprisonment of two years or more and is within six months prior to the earliest date of discharge is eligible to apply for early release under the Pre-release Employment Scheme. Both schemes aim at facilitating PICs' early reintegration into society as law-abiding citizens. The Release Under Supervision Board is responsible for screening early release applications submitted by eligible PICs, specifying supervision conditions in supervision orders, the variation or cancellation of such conditions, handling requests for a review of CE's decision by unsuccessful applicants, considering revocation of supervision orders and making recommendations to the Government. There are no statistics on whether the applicants under the early release schemes were seriously ill or not.
We understand that the practice in allowing PICs to receive medical treatment outside correctional institutions varies from one country or region to another. As far as Hong Kong is concerned, the Government has no plan to set up another mechanism for PICs to apply for early release solely on medical grounds given that PICs enjoy the same basic medical benefits which include specialist out-patient treatment or admission to public hospitals as other members of the public.
Ends/Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:01
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