Prison officers will urge their mainland counterparts to allow cross-border exchanges of inmates when they meet next week.
The Correctional Services Officers' Association leaves on Monday on a six-day trip to Guangdong. Most Hong Kong prisoners on the mainland are believed to be in the province.
The association will visit jails, courts and the public security and judiciary departments.
'If we agree jail terms are a means for rehabilitation on top of punishment, we believe it is easier for prisoners to re-enter society when they serve the sentence in their home towns,' said Stephen Wong Wai-hung, chairman of the association's junior section.
There are 2,202 mainlanders in Hong Kong jails, slightly less than the local population. Most are illegal immigrants.
China has never disclosed the number of Hong Kong residents behind bars on the mainland.
