Lee Siu On

Lee Siu On was a F.3 graduate in Sam Yuk Secondary School in 1966. He applied for a job in the Prisons Department and the venue of the interview was at Victoria Prison. The job requirement for warder was P.6 graduate and the applicants were asked to dictate 120 Chinese characters. Such task was not difficult for Lee since he was over qualified. He was taken to the “finger-print room”(Reception Office) to do the dictation. One officer scared the applicants by telling them not to lose their identity cards because they would be imprisoned there without one. Lee was young and got scared. He entered the training school in Stanley on June 13, 1966 and became the first batch of trainees who received 6-months’ training (the training period varied before from 2 to 3 months). The salary was $315/month.

Lee Siu On was assigned to Stanley Prison for his first “trial shift” (internship). He said it was a “favour” from other officers because no one wanted to go to Stanley Prison that was housing a lot of prisoners on death-row. He was sent there as a newbie and had the chance to witness the last execution in Hong Kong of Wong Kai Kei on November 11, 1966.

Lee Siu On was assigned to Victoria Prison for 2 weeks for his second internship. He was asked to assist a senior officer. The visitors were nicknamed “grave sweepers” because to the prisoners, being in jail was like being death. The prison officer passed a piece of paper with the visitors’ request to the prison block security staff, then the prisoner on duty would ask the prisoner by their number to receive the visitor. Some staff members just wrote the prisoner’s number on the black board and let the prisoner knew he had a visitor.

The prison rules were less sophisticated back then. The day room served as dining room, workshop and also the visit room. Sometimes the prison officer would find cigarette packs with cash inside or rolls of cash under the tables. The prisoner could request the brand of cigarette they wanted to smoke and the visitors would bring it to the prison. The staff would distribute the cigarette according to the number on the cigarette on the package. Some prisoners would use this chance to smuggle.

Lee Siu On said he wanted to have a job as soon as possible after graduation. However, he did not have any shop’s guarantee, which made him difficult to find a job in the in a store or office (with the salary of a few hundred dollars). Since Lee was anxious to find a job and did not mind his family or friends’ negative impression on working in a prison, he took his friend’s advice to apply for a position in the Prisons Department.    

Lee Siu On had to assist a senior officer during his internship. There were not too many prisoners in Victoria Prison, and only a dozen of prison police. The staff monitored 2 areas, the Upper Yard (dining hall where the prisoners had breakfast, rest and watched TV) and the Lower Yard (basement where the laundry room and sewing room located). The other areas such as the kitchen, hospital and the Psychology Observation Unit were guarded by other staff members, so the newbies like Lee only worked in the Upper Yard and Lower Yard. The prison lights went on at 6am every day. The inmates would get out of the cell blocks carrying 2 buckets with them, one for water and the other one with their excrements. The inmates needed to clean their excrement buckets, made up their beds and lined up at the dining hall for breakfast. Victoria Prison served as a reception centre in the 1960s, so the inmates were not required to work.

Lee Siu On left Victoria Prison after the two-week internship. He followed his instructor Lam Wa Buk with a “piglet boat” (the ship transporting prisoners and ration) to visit Chi Ma Wan Prison. The prison police sat on the deck.

Lee Siu On recalled that the law enforcement agency officers were authority figures. Once the persons in custody arrived at Victoria Prison, they needed to have a haircut, squatted and lined up to wait for the officer’s headcount. The prisoners were in order and it was as beautiful as a painting, according to Lee Siu On. The prison culture changed in the later years and the persons in custody are not required to have haircut. They also do not have to squat. Lee thought the new changes had negative impact on the prison’s discipline. There was only one prison [editor’s note: Victoria Reception Centre] in Hong Kong and it could house 500 prisoners. When the prison was less populated, every prisoner could have one cell, but most often it was 3 to 5 persons a cell, sometimes even up to 5 people (Lee Siu On did not witness 5 people in a cell himself, he heard about it).

There were 4 shifts for the staff in Victoria Prison. [Lee Siu On ‘s remark: There was not enough manpower back in the days, so we had “holiday routine” during Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The staff needed to work 2 shifts from 7am to 11am, then 4pm to 7pm on those days.] If we needed to leave the quarter before the holiday routine started and being late for work the next day, our superior would write 2 reports, which means we had broken 2 rules. Being late was one, and the other one was not standing by in the quarter the previous night. Lee Siu On thought it was unfair because the superior would not listen to any explanations in the trial room. Besides, there was no overtime pay, prison staff had to stand by at the quarter even they were not on duty in case of any disturbance or fights between prisoners. Lee Siu On agreed it was necessary to stand by, but they should get pay for the overtime.

There were only a dozen staff members on duty every shift. The Debtors prison next to Hall B was still operational when Lee Siu On served in Victoria Prison. The prisoners could walk around in the prison freely and the prison hospital staff would patrol the area from time to time.   

Victoria Prison’s Psychological Observation Unit was located on the 3rd Floor of Hall D in 1966. The unit was monitored by the prison staff that were trained in Castle Peak Hospital. There is a circle painted on the floor of Hall D for testing the patients. The unit was disbanded when Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre was opened in 1972.

Up to the 1970s, prisoners who finished their sentences in Stanley Prison were sent to Victoria Prison first then released. It was because Stanley was still a very remote area and the District Anti Triad Squad officers from the police wanted to detain the released prisoners again for questioning.

Lee Siu On was assigned to Victoria Prison again in 1977. He liked to work in Central because he felt elegant and refined like a white collar. He was reassigned to Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre and observed that the culture there was different, for example, the persons in custody there did not need to squat while waiting to enter the dining hall.

Lee Sui On remembered that he and his colleagues would have tea and dim sum by the street before their morning shift [Lee’s later remark: it was Hoi Yin Restaurant in Caine Road].

He felt lucky that nothing serious happened when he was assigned to Victoria Prison.

Lee Siu On did not aware whether Victoria Prison was connected with the Central Police Station and the Central Magistracy when he was working there. He learnt that the three places were connected when he studied the history of the prison before becoming the tour guide for the prison open day in 2006. There was a passageway connecting the prison and the magistracy. The entrance of the passageway was the Ladder Store. The offenders were sent to the prison from the gate next to the Central Police Station dining hall until the Main Gate of Victoria Prison in Old Bailey Street.

Lee Sui On was awarded the Hong Kong Correctional Services Medal for Meritorious Service (C.S.M.S.M.) by the Hong Kong Government in 1999. He was the first CSD officer to receive such honour. He felt well deserved because he worked hard over the years. He did not take a single day of sick leave in 23 years before his retirement. Lee was also an active member of the staff association, becoming the bridge between the staff members and the department. He has become a tour guide in the Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum since 2008, sharing his knowledge of prisons with the public.

Lee Siu On thought the prison rations in the 1960s to 1970s was rather special. The prisoners had balance diet by having rice, meat, vegetable, fruit and other food. The menu was different every day. The prisoners would use an antimony plate with compartments for meals. Every meal was served with yellow beans (with high nutritional value) before 1970, thus, being in jail was also nicknamed as “eating beans” in the old days. Until the end of 1960s, the prison would issue each prisoner a vitamin c capsule every day. The prison provided fish (pond fish mostly, they were of the same size which was easy to distribute equally), beef, pork or beef ball in prison meals. The prisoners usually had “pak mui” (rice congee in Chaozhou dialect), “sea water” (salty congee mixed with red beans), leftover rice in congee (which was environmental friendly and could fill one’s belly) or “tim mui” (sweet congee with red beans or green beans) for lunch. [Lee Siu On’s later remark: The prisoners were given 2 mugs, one for tea and one for milk during every meal.]

The prisoners had different rations every day. The prison provided Chinese, Indian and Western diets according to the prisoners’ nationalities. Since 1970, vegetable diet was also available in respect for the prisoners’ religion believes. Indian diet was available in the 1960s with curry, chapatti, green beans etc. There was O/N meal (O/N stood for “other national”) with bread, cheese and milk tea. Although Japanese and Vietnamese prisoners were called “other national” as well, they could not have O/N meals. The prison would determine what the best diet was for the prisoner.

All the male persons in custody were sent to Victoria Prison during Lee Siu On’s tour there, there were not many foreigners; most of the prisoners were Chinese.

If a prisoner broke the rules in prison,  he/she would receive the“rice and water”punishment by locking them in a cell block in Hall D for 7 days, having 2 meals a day only with rice, a cup of tea and some salt (the meals were not served by the normal antimony plate with compartments but just a plain one). The “rice and water” punishment was abolished in 1981 due to human right concern.