Overcrowding at Victoria Prison will reach record levels when 570 Vietnamese are moved into the jail, which has just 21 vacant beds. The 570 represent more than three per cent of the Vietnamese boat people in the territory. An operation is expected to be mounted today to move the people, who have been refused refugee status and are in High Island detention centre, to Victoria Prison pending their forced repatriation. Rob Brook, a lawyer with Refugee Concern, said: 'The Government is making a deliberate decision to move people into disgracefully overcrowded conditions.' About one-third of those being moved into the prison will be children. Mr Brook said conditions there were so appalling that they might violate the Bill of Rights' prohibition against 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment', which meant in theory that those held would be able to sue the Government. 'In each of the cells there's just a bucket. They have to slop out every day,' he said. Prison visitors are not allowed to see conditions in the jail. All visits are conducted in a special room. A Correctional Services Department spokesman said the biggest problem would be the kitchen, which might need extra staff. He said the kitchen was capable of producing about 1,000 meals a day. The capacity of the prison is 438 and there are 417 inmates. After the Vietnamese arrive, the number of inmates will be about 987. 'It will be more than double the capacity,' said the Correctional Services Department spokesman. He said Victoria Prison usually held about 600 or 700 inmates. 'I think we will need some extra beds. 'It's not good for people to sleep on the floor,' he said. 'We try to accommodate them the best we can.' The Security Branch has been seeking new sites for prisons amid rising concern over poor prison conditions. Despite plans to provide an extra 1,250 places by 1999, a reply to the Legislative Council by Commissioner for Correctional Services Raymond Lai Ming-kee revealed that this represented just 41 per cent of the projected 3,000 shortfall. Two Vietnamese migrants were arrested yesterday after an inmate of the High Island Detention Centre was stabbed to death on Monday night. The 29-year-old man was found unconscious in a hut with stab wounds to his back and chest at about 9.20 pm. A blood-stained metal pipe was lying nearby. Police said the victim and the suspects, who all lived in the North Camp, had apparently argued some time earlier. The two boat people were last night helping Wong Tai Sin police with their inquiries.
