Jail job fair gives former inmates a shot at work
Job recruiters will go behind bars for the first time this summer for a job fair to help former inmates find work.
The Correctional Services Department unveiled the project yesterday after a meeting to discuss the latest crime figures.
Fight Crime Committee member Dr John Tse Wing-ling said the fair would offer about 300 jobs in various industries such as cosmetics and baking to male and female inmates who would be released by end of this year. Employers would meet applicants in prison next month and in August.
'This scheme is the first of its kind to arrange job interviews before inmates are discharged, so as to facilitate post-prison employment and reduce the lag time for job-matching,' he said.
He said it had long been tough for ex-prisoners to find work after jail but many business and community sector employers were becoming more open-minded.
'There are jobs waiting for them now,' he said.
Meanwhile, the amount of methamphetamine, or Ice, seized in Hong Kong rose more than fivefold in the first five months of this year, according to city crime figures.
Law enforcement agencies seized 19kg of drug Ice between January and May, up from 3kg in the same period last year.
Ketamine seizures almost doubled from 73kg in the same period last year to 144kg this year. The seizure of heroin increased by 178 per cent to 78kg in the same period of this year -from 28kg last year.
Officers also seized 6kg of cannabis in the first five months of this year, compared to 3kg over the same period last year.
