Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation Division celebrated its 10th Anniversary in January 2008. Ten years on, we have seen the proactive provision and improvement of rehabilitative services and programmes to facilitate the reintegration of offenders into the community as law-abiding citizens. At the same time, balance has been struck to ensure that such services should not be excessive or extravagant. Our goal is to help reduce crime by building a safer and more inclusive society.

During 2008, we continued to take forward programme matching for inmates and young prisoners as part of the integrated Risks and Needs Assessment and Management Protocol for Offenders introduced in October 2006. We will keep in view the effectiveness of this initiative and make sure its implementation is commensurate with resource commitments. We have also begun to construct for adult and young sex offenders a comprehensive battery of assessment tool for measuring risks of re-offending and needs of treatment.

Vocational training for offenders remains a priority. Conscious efforts have been made to promote computer literacy among adult offenders through provision of more computers and computer courses. Full-time pre-release vocational training was extended to female adult offenders. The follow up employment services provided by the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, Hong Kong since October 2006 revealed an overall employment rate of over 83% for rehabilitated offenders who had completed vocational training in adult correctional institutions before release. The integration of vocational training for local adult offenders into Correctional Services Industries and implementation of related changes for Correctional Services Industries were planned to take place in early 2009.

To tie in with the implementation of new senior secondary education in 2009, we have strengthened education support for young offenders by creating graduate teacher posts for the core subjects under the new senior secondary curriculum, and gradually replacing some non-degree masters by degree masters by 2012.

We have also enhanced our public education initiatives for youth and launched the "Rehabilitation Pioneer Project" since September 2008. Part-time staff help to focus on the project and further spread the messages of crime prevention and offender rehabilitation to young people.

A post-campaign public opinion survey conducted in January 2008 showed that the publicity activities organised so far have been able to reach the public at large and an overwhelming majority of the public considered it worthwhile for the Government to continue conducting publicity activities to appeal for community support for rehabilitated offenders. In the light of the positive response, CSD will continue its publicity work on the rehabilitation front with a view to sustaining public support and further enhancing community involvement.

On the way forward, we will continue to improve the services for offenders and rehabilitated offenders, and engage the public in this worthwhile cause where appropriate. A detailed account of the comprehensive services provided by the Division from admission to reintegration covering welfare, adjustment, rehabilitation and reintegration needs, as well as our efforts in promoting community acceptance of rehabilitated offenders is set out in this Chapter.

LEE Sheung
Assistant Commissioner (Rehabilitation)

Pre-sentence Assessment Services

Pre-sentence assessment is our first intervention in the rehabilitation of an offender as such assessment, including interviewing the offender, compiling a report on him, and finally advising the court as to his suitability for one of our rehabilitative programmes, is done before the offender is sentenced and treatment actually starts. We believe that by giving an offender the most appropriate treatment measure at the outset, it will help maximise his chance of rehabilitation and also save social resources in the long run. During the year, 18 assessment staff handled a total of 5 202 cases.

Young Offender Assessment Panel

The Young Offender Assessment Panel is formed to assist courts in the sentencing of young male offenders aged 14 to 24 and young female offenders aged 14 to 20. This administrative body is composed of professionals from the CSD and the Social Welfare Department. It interviews all the young offenders referred by the court, forms a coordinated view, and makes a recommendation as to the most appropriate treatment programme for the case. In 2008, the Panel handled 270 referrals, of which 83% of its recommendations were accepted.

Welfare and Counselling Services

The Young Offender Assessment Panel conducts interview and assessment on a young offender.

We render welfare and counselling services to offenders right from their admission to correctional institutions, when they may be facing the most difficult time during custody. The main objectives of the services is are to cater for offenders' welfare needs, help them deal with their adjustment problems, address their offending behaviour and provide various rehabilitation programmes to meet their rehabilitative needs. Towards the end of their term, we will prepare them for release by providing them with pre-release counselling services and, if necessary, referring them to appropriate social welfare organisations for follow-up support and services. In 2008, we conducted 129 120 individual counselling sessions, 1 162 group counselling sessions, and 2 175 pre-release courses in the process.

Psychological Services

Clinical psychologists provide counselling service to help prisoners correct their offence-prone behaviour.

A team of clinical psychologists and departmental officers trained in psychological work help inmates change their offending behaviour and promote their psychological well-being. In 2008, 32 511 counselling sessions were conducted for this purpose.  At the same time, 565 assessment reports were prepared for the court and related review boards to facilitate decisions on the rehabilitation of offenders.

We also continued our efforts in developing on-going programmes targeting offending behaviours. These included the Offending Behaviour Programme and Inmate-Parent Programme for young offenders, Violence Prevention Programme and Mental Health Programme for adult offenders, the Sex Offender Evaluation and Treatment Unit Programme for sex offenders and substance abuse treatment programmes for inmates and prisoners with substance abuse problem.

To pave the way for an empirically based offender management and rehabilitation system, the Department introduced in 2006 a "Risks and Needs Assessment and Management Protocol for Offenders" for evaluating offenders' re-offending risk and rehabilitative needs. Specialised clinical measures for assessing the re-offending risks and rehabilitative needs for violent offenders, sex offenders and young offenders were also completed.

Education

Inmates attend computer training class.

The Education Unit provides half-day compulsory education programmes for young offenders under the age of 21 and guidance to adult offenders who participate in educational studies on a voluntary basis. Besides general subjects, practical courses such as computer-related and commercial subjects are also taught by qualified teachers.

To enhance language and computer education for both young and adult inmates, we have upgraded the existing facilities and added new equipment for IT learning. We have set up computer rooms and multi-media learning centres in all young offender institutions and in the majority of the adult offender institutions. These include the establishment of a new computer room in Ma Po Ping Prison in March 2008, and a new Multimedia Learning Centre in Lai King Correctional Institution in June 2008. The computers and accessories of the Multimedia Learning Centre in Pak Sha Wan Correctional Institution, the computer room in Lai Chi Rehabilitation Centre, and the Library cum Computer Room in Cape Collinson Correctional Institution were replaced in February and March 2008 respectively. Additional and replacement computer facilities were provided in the Multimedia Learning Centre in Tung Tau Correctional Institution in October 2008. A total of 637 computers have been installed for offenders as at December 31, 2008, including 370 in Adult Offender institutions and 267 in Young Offender institutions.

In 2008, inmates attempted a total of 1 068 public examination papers and the overall passing rate was 63.6%. The examination results are shown in Appendix 8. As at December 31, 2008, 139 prisoners enrolled in distance learning courses of degree, diploma or certificate levels run by the Open University of Hong Kong and other tertiary education organisations. Needy prisoners may apply for financial assistance for various educational pursuits from the Prisoners' Education Trust Fund and the Jockey Club Inmates' Education Subsidy Scheme. During the year, the total financial assistance provided by these two avenues amounted to $493,427.

In order to enhance the employability of adult prisoners upon their release, the Department received sponsorship from the Employees Retraining Board for eight Information Technology classes to be organised in Pak Sha Wan Correctional Institution, Shek Pik Prison, Ma Po Ping Prison and Tong Fuk Centre and Stanley Prison. As at December 31, 2008, four classes had been completed, three will be completed in February and March 2009 and one will commence in late-February 2009.

To encourage adult offenders to pursue studies voluntarily after work, we deploy voluntary tutors to run various educational classes and interests groups for them. In 2008, a total of 134 classes were run by volunteers of the CSD Rehabilitation Volunteer Group for 1 405 adult offenders. Furthermore, to arouse inmates' interest in tertiary education, we continued to take forward a project to encourage continuous education for offenders by organising a reading scheme named "Rainbow Reading Award Scheme" in Tai Lam Centre for Women, Ma Po Ping Prison and Tong Fuk Centre and a series of talks under the theme "A Taste of University" in Stanley Prison. The reading scheme aims to raise prisoners' educational and intellectual standards. It was carried out in Tai Lam Centre for Women from September 2007 to June 2008 with 31 participants. A fresh round of the reading scheme commenced in Ma Po Ping Prison and Tong Fuk Centre in December 2008 and will be concluded by mid-2009. The series of talks in Stanley Prison was conducted from May to July 2008 with 46 participants. We also cooperated with the Open University of Hong Kong to provide learning support for inmate students through counselling and visits by voluntary staff and tutors of the University.

Vocational Training

Inmates obtain work skills and qualifications through a wide range of vocational training.

Ongoing efforts are made to provide vocational courses that meet the demands of the industrial and business sectors in Hong Kong and accredited by external vocational authorities such as City and Guilds, Construction Industry Council Training Academy, Employees Retraining Board and Vocational Training Council.

Young inmates under the age of 21 receive half-day compulsory technical or commercial training to facilitate their smooth reintegration into society after discharge. Vocational courses keeping pace with developments of the community are conducted to help inmates obtain vocational qualifications of the City and Guilds or to prepare them for trade tests conducted by the Construction Industry Council Training Academy. There are also courses preparing inmates to obtain exemption for related subjects when studying in vocational training institutes after discharge.

Adult prisoners are engaged in industrial production and trained to acquire the necessary skills. Where appropriate, we will help them obtain skill accreditation by enrolling them in relevant Intermediate Trade Tests conducted by the Construction Industry Council Training Academy. We will also run suitable training courses to prepare them for employment. During the interim, we are devising a long-term development plan for the provision of vocational training for local adult offenders, to identify and introduce vocational training elements to the work programmes and work posts for prisoners in Correctional Services Industries workshops. In 2008, the Department provided 200 training places for adult prisoners under the pilot pre-release full-time vocational training scheme centre at Lai Sun Correctional Institution and Lai Chi Kok Correctional Institution. Through redeployment of internal resources and sponsorship, we also ran 28 part-time vocational courses for 515 adult prisoners in other institutions to prepare them for employment after release.

During the year, inmates and prisoners attempted 1 231 public examination papers and trade tests (including 12 applications for recognised qualifications, were made through the Recognition of Prior Learning mechanism under the Qualifications Framework). The overall passing rate was 98.6%. Details of the vocational qualifications obtained are shown in Appendix 9.

Supervision Services

The Department provides, through its supervision staff, statutory supervision for young prisoners, persons released from detention, rehabilitation, training and drug addiction treatment centres, and prisoners released under various supervision schemes. The service is an integral part of the correctional and rehabilitation programmes to assist offenders in re-integrating into society and leading a decent and law-abiding life upon release.

In the interests of an effective supervision, supervision staff strive to foster mutual trust with inmates and their families/significant others while the inmates are in custody. They also give inmates appropriate support and guidance to help them adapt to the institutional programme and make them aware of their inadequacies and the difficulties ahead.

Making handicrafts is one of the way to mould prisoners' temperament.

With the help of the computerised Rehabilitation Programme Management System, supervision staff assess the re-offending risks and rehabilitative needs of all inmates and local young prisoners, and conduct regular reviews on rehabilitative needs of each inmate and young prisoner. They also run structured social reintegration programmes for target offenders in inmate centres who are assessed to be having moderate to high risks and needs. These programmes focus on employment guidance needs, family/marital needs, associates/social functioning needs and community functioning needs.

Through regular contacts and visits, supervision staff will guide and assist inmates discharged under supervision for integration. On the other hand, a breach of the supervision conditions may result in the supervisee being recalled back to an institution for further training. In 2008, 1 021 recall orders were issued.

Supervision Schemes for Prisoners

Under the Release Under Supervision Scheme and the Pre-release Employment Scheme, successful applicants may be discharged directly from prison for statutory supervision before the end of their imprisonment or released to live in a hostel where they are provided with supervision services and permitted to go out to work in day time. Both schemes are aimed at giving an opportunity for suitable, eligible and motivated prisoners to serve their sentences in an open environment with supervision. Prisoners breaching the supervision requirements may be subject to re-imprisonment for the remainder of their sentences.

The Post-Release Supervision of Prisoners Scheme provides statutory supervision for certain categories of adult prisoners to facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Prisoners breaching the supervision conditions may be recalled to serve the balance of their sentence equivalent to their unexpired supervision period.

Under the Conditional Release Scheme, prisoners with indeterminate sentences may, before the Long-term Prison Sentences Review Board makes recommendations as to whether their indeterminate sentences should be converted to determinate ones, be conditionally released under supervision for a specific period to test their determination and ability to lead a law-abiding life. Prisoners with indeterminate sentences having been converted to determinate ones may also be ordered by the Board to be placed under post-release supervision under the Supervision After Release Scheme.

As at December 31, 2008, a total of 2 787 persons were under active statutory supervision. A breakdown of the caseload and statistics on success rates is in Appendix 10.

Half-way House Programme

Parent-child centre facilities relationship-building between female inmates and their children.

The Half-way House Programme is an extension of the rehabilitative effort sustained in detention centre, training centres, drug addiction treatment centres or prisons. Following release, supervisees in need of a period of transitional adjustment may reside in a half-way house to which they can return at night after work or school. There are three half-way houses run by the Department, namely Phoenix House, Pelican House and Bauhinia House.

The programme seeks to cultivate a sense of self-discipline and positive working habits in a structured and supportive environment. Emphasis is placed on behavioural performance, inter-personal relationship and family support. Individual and group counselling sessions, in-house recreation and outdoor activities and community services are organised to strengthen residents' civic and moral awareness. Leave of absence is generally granted on weekends and public holidays to facilitate social reintegration. In 2008, a total of 285 residents were admitted to the three half-way houses.

Non-government Organisations (NGOs)

Limbless Australian speaker, Mr Nick Vujicic, speaks to young inmates and extends support to their rehabilitation.

To utilise social resources for rehabilitative work effectively, we have been working closely with NGOs in the provision of services to inmates/prisoners and rehabilitated offenders. During the year, more than 2 000 volunteers from 63 NGOs were actively involved in a variety of services ranging from the provision of counselling services and religious sacraments, to the organisation of cultural ventures and recreational projects in correctional institutions.

With a view to strengthening cooperation among the NGOs and providing them with an opportunity to exchange views on matters relating to rehabilitation services, we held a forum for the NGO workers and volunteers entitled "Social Enterprises and Offender Rehabilitation" in October 2008 in conjunction with the City University of Hong Kong. Besides, a web-based messaging platform, the "NGO Platform", has been set up to provide users with an interactive site to post up topics for open discussion.

Reaching out to the Community

Community acceptance and support is of paramount importance to the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into society. Comprising community leaders, employers, education workers, professionals and representatives of non-government organisations and government departments, the Committee on Community Support for Rehabilitated Offenders (CCSRO) advises the Commissioner on rehabilitation programmes, and reintegration and publicity strategies. The terms of reference and membership of the Committee are in Appendix 11.

The Road Back V, a TV docu-drama, is jointly produced by CSD and RTHK.

Apart from the CCSRO, the Department continues its good partnership with community organisations, merchants and trade associations to take forward joint projects for the benefit of offenders and rehabilitated offenders. These organisations include, among others, the Care of Rehabilitated Offenders Association, International CICA Association of Esthetics, Hong Kong Hair & Beauty Merchants Association, Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon, Yuen Yuen Institute, Merchants Support for Rehabilitated Offenders Committee, Yan Oi Tong, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs and Zonta Clubs. A list of the donations by and/or collaborative projects with these organisations is at Appendix 13.

Publicity Activities

To help the community better understand the needs and problems of rehabilitated offenders and to appeal for public support for them, the Department has launched a series of publicity activities since 1999. Major activities in 2008, including certificate presentation ceremonies, award presentation ceremony for Volunteers of CSD Rehabilitation Volunteer Group, joint community involvement activities with various District Fight Crime Committees, Radio and TV Announcements in the Public Interest, Appointment of Rehabilitation Ambassador, new TV docu-drama "The Road Back V" and its DVDs, NGO Forum and TV Variety Show, are in Appendix 12.

Rehabilitation Pioneer Project

For more focused development and to further spread the crime prevention and offender rehabilitation messages among the youth, CSD has, from September 2008 onwards, adopted a coordinated approach to implement enhanced public education initiatives under a new project entitled "Rehabilitation Pioneer Project", covering school talks, the Personal Encounter with Prisoner Scheme, the Green Haven Scheme, visits to Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum and Options in Life Student Forum. A Kick-off-Ceremony of the RPP cum Options-in-Life Student Forum was held on May 22, 2008.

School Talks

School talks are organised for schools or youth organisations. The purpose of these education talks are to provide students / youth with basic information on the criminal justice system in Hong Kong and CSD's custodial and rehabilitative services, and to help simulate them to think about the consequences of committing crime. A total of 67 talks were arranged for 18 179 students / youth in 2008.

Personal Encounter with Prisoners Scheme

The Department runs the Personal Encounter with Prisoners Scheme as part of the community's fight crime campaign. Youths and students visit one of the several designated institutions to meet with reformed prisoners in experience sharing sessions. The purpose is to help prevent delinquency through the deepening of participants' understanding of the untoward consequences of committing a crime. A total of 4 249 young people and students visited the institutions under the Scheme in 2008.

Green Haven Scheme

The Department started the Green Haven Scheme in January 2001 to promote the anti-drug message and the importance of environmental protection among young people. Participants meet with young inmates of drug addiction treatment centre to gain insight into the detrimental effects of drug abuse. They also take part in a tree planting ceremony to indicate their support for rehabilitated offenders and environmental protection, and vow to stay away from drugs. During the year, a total of 26 visits were arranged for 620 participants.

Visit to Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum

Visits to Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum are organised for students/youth with a view to fostering their understanding of the development of correctional services particularly the rehabilitative services and various publicity initiatives to enlist public support for offender rehabilitation. A total of seven visits were arranged for 182 participants in 2008.

Options in Life Student Forum

To demonstrate the willingness of rehabilitated offenders in making contribution to society, the Department conducted from late 2003 to 2005 a round of district-based student forums in all 18 districts to provide opportunities for secondary students and rehabilitated offenders to interact and discuss on the serious consequences of crime. A total of 20 student forums were organised with 3 300 participants. In line with the Department's community involvement strategy, arrangements have been made for similar forums to be run by 12 NGOs since 2006, with the necessary support and steer provided by CSD.

CSD Rehabilitation Volunteer Group

In order to broaden the scope of public involvement, the Department has formed the CSD Rehabilitation Volunteer Group since early 2004. The Group aims to supplement the services of the Department particularly in terms of addressing the reformative, emotional, educational, social and recreational needs of inmates. Apart from conducting interest groups on such topics as languages, computer studies and other cultural pursuits for offenders in various correctional institutions, volunteers of the Group who are mostly college students and serving teachers also assist in other areas of rehabilitation work, such as public education activities for promoting community acceptance of rehabilitated offenders. During 2008, about 170 volunteers of the Group were actively engaged in providing services for offenders.

Rehabilitation Pioneer Project covers a series of educational talks, visits and forums for youth.