Law Hau Leung talks about his work in Victoria Prison in his old office

Law Hau Leung joined the Prisons Department (now the Correctional Service Department) in 1973. A big prison riot was broken out in Stanley Prison that year and the Government appointed a special inquiry commitment led by a judge after the incident. The commitment’s report suggested the Prison Department did not have sufficient manpower, and thus, the government expanded the department by hiring more hands. Law took the chance to join the department. He knew little of the work of a Prisons Department Officer except managing prisoners’ daily routine and meals before joining the department since it had rather low transparency at that time.

Law Hau Leung served as the last Superintendent of Victoria Prison from April 2004 to March 2006. He suggested the prison was very special because it housed both male and female prisoners, which was different than other institutions. There were two types of inmates in Victoria Prison, the convicts and those breached the condition of stay. The convicts were mostly illegal immigrants from Mainland China and would be sent back to China after doing their time. 90% of the illegal immigrants were Southeast Asians from India and Pakistan, while the rest were Filipinos, Thai people, a few Europeans and Americans. 

Law Hau Leung’s daily routine: He spent an hour in the morning to interview all the inmates who would soon be deported (there were around 200-300 people waiting to be deported during weekday and 400-500 before holiday). After the interviews, Law would do the paperwork. In-prison trial took place in the afternoon, against the inmates who broke the rules. Law acted as the judge and ran the trials following the Prison Rule. He gave judgment after listening to the prison staff and the offenders’ deposition. The charges were mainly petty offense such as small fights, disobeying staff’s order or being rude to the staff. As the inmates were already serving time in Victoria Prison, Law could not prolong their sentence, therefore the punishment were usually imprisonment in solitary for 2 to 3 days, which was quite linear. There were 500 to 600 inmates in Victoria Prison at that time, and there were 30 trials each month (1 case a day), which show that the discipline was not a serious problem.