Hong Kong has proposed tightening its prison rules to restrict inmate visits, including those made by religious leaders and lawyers, if the authorities deem it necessary for national security.
The government on Thursday outlined the proposals to amend the city’s prison rules in order to “meet the needs of safeguarding national security and modern correctional institution management,” according to a document submitted to the Legislative Council’s security panel.
Under the proposal, the Correctional Services Department (CSD) can restrict or even ban a person from visiting an inmate based on certain grounds, including for safeguarding national security.
“There were cases in the past where the visiting mechanism was abused by some people using ‘humanitarian relief’ as a pretext to visit for influencing [persons in custody] with soft tactics” to incite resistance against the CSD or arouse hatred against authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong, the government said, without providing details of such abuse.
The government proposed stating in the prison rules that the CSD has the power to refuse any visits that do not comply with statutory purposes, such as facilitating the rehabilitation of inmates and their reintegration into society.
The proposals also include restricting the visitation rights of religious leaders and lawyers if authorities see a need to protect national security.
Under current prison rules, legal and religious visits are not bound by the general provisions for regular visits. For example, a chaplain – a religious leader appointed by the chief executive – can visit a prisoner “at all reasonable times.”
However, under the proposal, authorities could restrict or ban a visit by a “particular chaplain” on national security grounds.
Similarly, the government suggested that the CSD can apply to a magistrate for a warrant barring an inmate from communicating with a “specified legal representative,” in meeting or in writing, as well as any persons associated with the law firm concerned.
“A past incident in which a [person in custody] handed over unauthorised articles to his legal adviser to take away from the prison during a legal visit has aroused public concern about the risk of abuse of the legal visit system” under the existing rules, the government said.
Authorities appeared to be referring to jailed pro-democracy activist Owen Chow and his lawyer, Phyllis Woo, both of whom were found guilty last year of removing a complaint letter from prison without the CSD’s approval in 2023.
The pair lost their appeal against the conviction in May but Woo has sought to take her case to the apex Court of Final Appeal. A hearing is still pending.
Prisoners may still consult any other lawyers of their choice, the government said in the proposal.
‘Threat’ to prison order
The government also proposed scrapping provisions in the current prison rules that allow people on remand awaiting trial – meaning they have not been convicted – to wear their own clothes and eat non-prison-catered food.
Authorities said the treatment afforded to those on remand could pose a threat to discipline and order in prisons.
Official data show that, on a daily average, close to 4,000 people in Hong Kong’s prisons between January and March this year were on remand, accounting for almost 40 per cent of the some 9,900 people in custody during the same period.
Other proposals included extending prison officers’ power to safeguard national security in areas such as regulating and screening letters coming in and out of prisons, handling books from outside, and imposing solitary confinement.
The government said it aims to pass the amendments under the negative vetting procedures – meaning a proposal will come into effect before it is scrutinised by lawmakers in a bills committee.
The Legislative Council’s security panel is set to discuss the government’s proposal next Monday.
