Overcrowding is placing a heavy burden on Hong Kong's penal institutions. The majority of the territory's prisons have exceeded their certified capacities, some by a substantial margin. Yet, despite the strains caused by overcrowding, the facilities generally meet minimum international standards. Indeed, with regard to several important factors, including physical maintenance, cleanliness, and the provision of food, their performance is impressive. The good conditions in the prisons, however, contrast strikingly with the poor conditions found in the closed camps for Vietnamese refugees.

Consistent with the preference expressed in the Standard Minimum Rules, most of Hong Kong's penal facilities house fewer than 500 prisoners.(25) While there are still several facilities housing between 500 and 1,000 prisoners, only two facilities -- Lai Chi Kok Reception Center and Stanley Prison -- house more than 1,000 prisoners.

The Hong Kong prison population has risen substantially in the past decade, going from 8,361 inmates in 1987 to its current population of over 12,000.(26) At the time of the visit of the Human Rights Watch/Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor delegation, the prisons held 18 percent more prisoners than they were certified to hold, while at some points within the past two years they have been up to 37 percent overcrowded. It should noted as well that normally prisons filled at 100 percent of capacity are overcrowded because, in practice, at any given time some cells are under repair, or are used for storage, or are unavailable for other reasons.(27)

Because of overcrowding, many cells designed for one prisoner now hold two and in some cases three prisoners. Dormitories are also crowded, with bunk beds pushed close together in many institutions.

Three new penal facilities are currently under construction. All of these will hold male Category C and Category D prisoners (those convicted of less serious offenses).(28) Their total capacity will be 832 prisoners, insufficient to remedy the existing deficit, and far less than necessary to cope with the numbers of future prisoners that are expected. According to estimates provided by the CSD, the Hong Kong prison population is predicted to reach 15,000 by the year 2000, putting the prisons at 27 percent over planned capacity.(29)

Hong Kong prisons employ both cellular and dormitory accommodations. Cells are mostly found in men's maximum security facilities, while the remainder of Hong Kong's prisons have dormitories.(30) Cells generally range in size from sixty to ninety square feet. Except for cells holding male Category A prisoners -- who, because of their greater perceived dangerousness, are always held in individual cells -- they often hold more than one prisoner. Cells in newer facilities such as Shek Pik have barred fronts, providing an unobstructed view of the interior, while those in older facilities such as Stanley have solid front walls interrupted by barred doors or by solid doors with barred openings. The dormitories are of various sizes and generally hold between ten and sixty prisoners.

Cells and dormitories, like the prisons generally, are exceptionally clean and orderly. Due to strict controls, clutter is almost non-existent. This is particularly true in dormitories, where prisoners' few personal belongings are kept locked away in cubbyholes. Personal belongings are somewhat more in evidence in cells, particularly at Shek Pik, but they are still surprisingly sparse and very tidily arranged. Televisions are not allowed in the living areas, although radios and cassette players are (for use with headphones). Overall, there are strict limits on the number and type of personal items a prisoner may keep in his cell, and in no prison are inmates allowed to attach posters or other decorations to the walls of their living areas. Because of such restrictions, the living accommodations are on the whole rather impersonal. Particularly in the dormitory accommodations, inmates have little if any opportunity for privacy or personal expression.

Cell furniture is standardized. Dormitories are generally furnished with rows of metal-framed bunk beds, a set of cubbyholes for prisoners' belongings, and little if anything else. Cells have a more complete set of furnishings, all of which are generally made of molded white fiberglass. A typical cell holds two low beds, a very small triangular-shaped table, and a stool with no back support.

Most cells and dormitories include sinks and toilets, either of the sit-down or hole-in-the-floor variety. However, Hong Kong's two oldest prisons -- Stanley and Victoria -- lack in-cell toilets, forcing prisoners into the unpleasant alternative of defecating in buckets. With many prisoners being double-celled and locked in their cells from mid-evening until early morning, two prisoners are often forced to spend many hours with a foul stench in an extremely confined space. In Stanley Prison, at least, this state of affairs will not last much longer: the facility is currently undergoing comprehensive renovation and have a toilet installed in each cell before the end of 1998.(31) Such renovations are unfortunately not an option for Victoria Prison; it is registered as a historical monument, and the addition of toilets would entail impermissible structural alterations to its buildings.(32)

Particularly in cells holding more than one prisoner, the use of buckets as a substitute for adequate sanitary facilities -- as was done until recently in some prisons in England -- violates the Standard Minimum Rules. In particular, it is inconsistent with the requirement that sanitary facilities "be adequate to enable every prisoner to comply with the needs of nature when necessary and in a clean and decent manner."(33)

Cells used for disciplinary and administrative segregation generally contain the same furnishings as other cells. At Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, the beds are taken out of such cells during the day to prevent prisoners from lying down on them.

Hong Kong becomes very hot and humid in the summer, and fairly cold in the winter. Nonetheless, prisoners' living accommodations are not well protected from extremes in temperature. Most living areas are equipped with fans and nothing else: no heating in the winter and no air conditioning in the summer (this is also typical of many homes in Hong Kong). The delegation only found air conditioning and heating installed in prison infirmaries and in computer workshops. Prisons using cells are generally equipped with fans in the corridors along the cells, although Stanley Prison does not even have this basic concession to prisoners' comfort. During the winter, prisoners are supplied with extra blankets, to a maximum of five.

In the view of the Human Rights Watch/Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor delegation, efforts should be made to reduce overcrowding in all of the facilities currently over capacity. The delegation also believes that the following institutions are in particular need of improvement:

Victoria Prison. The oldest of Hong Kong's penal facilities, Victoria Prison was built in 1841. It is in many ways a museum piece, and would be more appropriately used as a museum than a prison. Some prisoners, including the Vietnamese tranferred from High Island, live in dark basements, others live in dimly lit rooms in the main building. In B-block, a very old three-story building, six-by-ten-foot cells with no toilet sometimes accommodate two prisoners.

Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre. This facility is in absolute numbers the most overcrowded in Hong Kong. Certified to accommodate a population of 960, it held 1,356 inmates on the day of our visit and was bursting at the seams. As described in Section V, it is also seriously understaffed.

Ma Po Ping Prison and Tong Fuk Centre. The sanitary facilities at Ma Po Ping and Tong Fuk were in urgent need of repair. The toilets were broken; instead of flushing, inmates poured buckets of water down them, but the strong smell of sewage remained. More generally, moderate upkeep was needed: the paint on some of the walls was peeling, and parts of the ceilings showed leaks. (The facility is located in an area of extreme humidity, and constant maintenance is required.)

Prisoners are supplied with clean clothes, shoes, blankets, pillows, towels, and undergarments, which are laundered at frequent intervals.

As mentioned previously, cells normally contain low beds of molded white fiberglass, while dormitories have metal-framed bunk beds with wood planks for prisoners to sleep on. The beds are not equipped with mattresses; instead, the prisoner uses a thin reed mat. Every morning, the prisoner must fold his or her blankets into a neat regulation form-roughly a cube-and place it at the head of the bed.

All prisoners, including pretrial detainees, wear prison-supplied clothing.(34) Unsentenced prisoners are allowed to wear their own clothes to court, however. In prisons containing different groups of prisoners-for example, young prisoners, training center inmates, and remands-each group wears a somewhat different style and color of clothing.

Prisoners are allowed to shower regularly, usually every day. They must keep their hair clean and trimmed fairly short.

Prisoners everywhere complain of prison food, but they have little to complain of in Hong Kong's penal facilities.(35) Meals, which are designed by dieticians, are ample, well-balanced and varied. Vegetables, fruit, meat and fish are provided in sufficient amounts, and the kitchen areas are clean. CSD officers taste the food before each meal is served, recording their reactions in a log book. (The delegations examined several of these log books, which included row after row of the word "good," although occasionally comments such as "too cold" were noted.)

In order to accommodate prisoners' culturally based dietary preferences, the prisons provide different diets for different ethnic groups. They offer, in particular, an "Asian" (Chinese) diet, a vegetarian diet (to accommodate Buddhist religious beliefs), an Indian/Pakistani diet, and a European diet.(36) In addition, prisoners needing special diets for medical reasons, such as diabetes, are also accommodated.

Food is generally served in the prison dining halls. At Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, Category A prisoners eat in their cells.

Remand prisoners at Lai Chi Kok have the option of eating food delivered from the outside, rather than eating prison food.(37) About fifty prisoners exercise this option. They can also order in beer or wine, although not, the superintendent emphasized, in excessive amounts.(38)

Smoking is permitted in the prisons, although during the workday smoking is usually limited to specified times.

Because the Human Rights Watch/Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor delegation did not include a medical doctor, we were not able to conduct an in-depth and expert examination of the medical care provided in the prisons. Nonetheless, we did tour the infirmaries and speak with medical staff. Our overall impression is that the medical care provided is adequate and professional.

Every facility visited had a sickbay, medical staff, including qualified doctors, and an array of medicines.(39) Upon entry to the prison system, all persons receive a comprehensive physical examination. Prisoners suffering the symptoms of drug withdrawal are held in a detoxification ward; they are not given methadone, but are given pain relievers to ease the most severe effects of withdrawal.

Doctors stated that to their knowledge only a small percentage of prisoners have tested positive for the AIDS virus. Consistent with international standards, there is no mandatory HIV testing and prisoners known to be HIV-positive are not separated from the general prison population.(40) Prisoners' HIV status is kept confidential from custodial staff.(41) The Human Rights Watch/Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor delegation was pleased to see posters recommending condom use in a couple of facilities, but disappointed to learn that condoms are not available to prisoners.

Prison officials in every facility vehemently denied that homosexual contact occurred between prisoners, insisting that close supervision prevented such activity. (Some made the additional argument that homosexuality was "not Chinese.") They acknowledged, nonetheless, that custodial staff are not posted within prisoners' living areas at night but instead make rounds of inspection at fifteen-minute intervals. Fifteen minutes is obviously plenty of time to engage in sexual activity.

It is well known in other correctional systems that, in addition to prisoners whose preference is same-sex sexual activity, many prisoners who are not by preference homosexual engage in "situational" homosexual behavior while in prison. There is no reason why Hong Kong prisoners would be an exception to this rule. Significantly, although the lack of access to condoms is unlikely to prevent sexually active juveniles and adults from engaging in sexual activity, it certainly increases the odds of HIV transmission. Given this danger, the Human Rights Watch/Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor delegation recommends that Hong Kong review the HIV/AIDS prevention policies of many other industrialized countries, including Britain, and relax its no-condom policy.(42)

Conditions for Vietnamese asylum-seekers held at the High Island Detention Centre are strikingly different from those in the prisons. Although the camp is prison-like in that access to it is strictly controlled and detainees are not free to leave, its living areas are far more crowded than those in the prisons, its sanitary conditions are much worse, and the food provided appeared to be inferior. Notably, these poor conditions are a long-standing problem that numerous local and international groups have already called to the attention of the Hong Kong government.(43) In connection with Vietnamese asylum-seekers in Hong Kong, there are serious indications that the conditions to which these persons are subjected during their often prolonged detention in refugee centres constitute a violation of their human rights and require urgent attention. Of principal concern is the absence of educational facilities for the children in these centres.

When the Human Rights Watch/Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor delegation visited High Island it held approximately 2,700 Vietnamese detainees, including 759 children under fifteen.(44) A total of 236 CSD staff working in four shifts manned the camps, although only about thirty staff were on duty each night. CSD staff do not carry weapons in the camps.

The High Island camp is divided into two main sections. Because of past clashes between detainees from the north and south of Vietnam, the two groups are held separately. In addition to these areas, it also contains a security unit, built after the 1996 rioting at the Whitehead Detention Centre, which holds detainees targeted for imminent return to Vietnam.(45) Finally, it contains a small special unit of twenty-seven cells holding detainees undergoing punishment, a temporary accommodation unit holding a couple of families who sought protection from the main population, and an administrative area with offices, legal visit rooms, etc. A seventeen-foot-high double wall, topped with fourteen guard towers, surrounds the camp.

The two main detention sections are known as South Camp and North Camp. Each area contains large Quonset (Nissen) huts -- six occupied huts in the South Camp and five in the North Camp -- that serve as the living quarters for up to 300 detainees each. Even though the occupied huts were overcrowded, other huts were unoccupied.(46) The huts, which are extremely tall, are divided into three tiers. Each tier is separated into cubicles-approximately six-by-eight-foot spaces with an open front-to which families of up to four people are normally assigned to live.

Since detainees are not ordinary prisoners and are not subject to the Prison Rules, the CSD does not enforce regular prison discipline. Unlike in the prisons, detainees live in mixed-sex family groups, they wear their own clothes, and they move around freely within the facility. Detainees do not have to work, although about 10 percent of the camp population is employed by the CSD in some capacity: working in the kitchen, etc. The majority of the population is idle, however, which creates social problems. The CSD manages food distribution via "hut representatives" who are selected by the detainees themselves.(47)

In other ways, the camp is very much like a prison. Besides the fact that detainees cannot leave, visits are strictly regulated, with detainees being allowed one thirty-minute open (contact) visit per week. Searches are conducted routinely, although their object is not drugs but weapons. While discipline is only lightly enforced and there is very little supervision, detainees who are found to be "trouble-makers" may be transferred to Victoria Prison "for administrative reasons"; they are normally kept there for three to four months.(48) Such transfers are not technically deemed punishment, but it is obvious that Victoria is a prison with all of the restrictive aspects that prison entails.

The detainees made a number of complaints about conditions in the camp and about their treatment. They stated that the huts become unbearably hot during the summer; that the huts leak when it rains; that not enough food is provided; that the male guards watch the female detainees shower from their guard towers; that the CSD is extremely slow to repair things, such as fans, lights, faucets, etc.; and that there is no hot water in the winter.

The Human Rights Watch/Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor delegation noted several significant deficiencies in camp conditions. Most notably, the sanitary facilities were barely functioning and were filthy, smelly, dark, and bug-infested. Worse, because many detainees quite reasonably avoided using these facilities, the showers had become a de facto second toilet. In the showers, which were in small shipping containers some distance away from the huts, most of the spigots were broken, so that some 900 people in one section were forced to share seven spigots.

The delegation was relieved to see that some educational programs were being provided to the hundreds of children confined in the camp, but concluded that the programs were woefully insufficient. While we saw some small children attending classes, most children and juveniles were idle.

Despite the large numbers of detainees held at High Island, the camp has no regular infirmary, only an out-patient clinic, and people with infectious diseases are not normally segregated. The camp doctor, one of three working at High Island, told the delegation that he is barred from making rounds alone within the detainees' living areas.(49) Instead, about 5 percent of the camp population comes out to get medical treatment on an average day.(50) Upper respiratory tract infections are common among the detainees, who also suffer regular outbreaks of gastro-enteritis, usually the viral type, but occasionally the more serious bacterial type. Skin problems are also not uncommon.

Besides disease, injuries resulting from violent incidents also occur. According to statistics provided by the CSD, there were between one and four homicides per year at High Island from 1992 to 1996, and an average of twenty-four woundings.(51)