Correctional Services
The Correctional Services Department (CSD) administers a
wide range of services for adult and young offenders, drug
addicts and offenders with psychiatric problems. The services
fall broadly under two programme areas - prison management
and re-integration into society. The CSD also manages
detention centres for Vietnamese migrants (VMs) and
Vietnamese illegal immigrants (VIIs).
At the end of 1997, the CSD managed 23 correctional
institutions, four halfway houses, a staff training institute, an
emergency support group, two custodial wards in public
hospitals, and two detention centres for VMs. In all, 7 085
staff were looking after 11 463 inmates, 969 VMs, and 3 758
people under supervision after discharge from custody.
In 1997, the prison population remained high and averaged
22 per cent over the certified accommodation, with prisons
for adults being the major pressure points. To cope with the
perennial overcrowding problem in correctional institutions, a
former military camp was converted into Lo Wu Correctional
Institution, a minimum security prison. It became operational
on August 4, 1997, with a certified accommodation of 208.
Despite overcrowding which stretched resources, the CSD
continued to implement its programmes effectively.
The number of VMs continued to decrease in 1997 when
5 846 were repatriated. With the declining Vietnamese
population in detention centres, the Whitehead Detention
Centre was closed in June 1997, which was a landmark
achievement in the final chapter of the whole Vietnamese
migrant saga.
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