We have plenty of room for Occupy Central protesters, warns prisons chief

If the planned Occupy Central demonstration takes place and police make a high number of arrests, there will be room in the city's prisons for the detainees, according to Commissioner of Correctional Services Sin Yat-kin.

"We are confident that we can take care of more such people under our custody using our current resources," Sin said, adding that the prison population is at a 20-year low.

The Occupy Central non-violent civil disobedience movement plans to mobilise over 10,000 people to blockade streets in Central if the government fails to deliver a satisfactory proposal for political reform ahead of the 2017 chief executive election.

Last year, the average daily prison population dropped to 9,206 from 9,247 in 2012. The average occupancy rate was about 80 per cent.

With prisoner numbers slightly down, the department plans to revamp some older facilities which were not purposely built to be prisons. Fifteen of its 29 correctional facilities will have been in use for more than 40 years by 2019.

A partial redevelopment project is underway at the Tai Lam Centre for Women. It is expected to provide 108 additional prison places and make it better able to house female inmates that are a high security risk, Sin said.