THE summer is proving to be long and hot in Hong Kong's prisons. On June 4, one of the biggest riots by convicts breaks out in the drug addict-filled rehabilitation centre at Hei Ling Chau which the Correctional Services Department (CSD) tries to deal with by appointing an internal inquiry, leading to accusations of a whitewash.
Then yesterday, legislator and justice of the peace (JP) Emily Lau Wai-hing - considered the prisoners' friend, to whom they entrust grievances - makes a visit to the Lai Chi Kok remand centre, where the rioters are being held, after receiving some 30 complaints about the outbreak of violence - giving prison management just a few hours' notice. They refused to allow Human Rights Monitor director Law Yuk-kai, who has studied the prisons system for the past five years and is critical of a number of aspects, to accompany Ms Lau.
Ms Lau, a fiercely independent lawmaker, angered prison officers in April with a surprise visit to Tung Tau Correctional Institute in Stanley to receive complaints from inmates.
It is not clear whether it is within the rights of JPs to make unannounced visits. About 150 Correctional Services Officers' Association members protested directly to Ms Lau at a press conference she called a few days later to discuss the Stanley visit, and walked out after she refused to apologise to them for her action.
The summer, it seems, is getting even hotter - but this time the heat is being turned on prison officers. Concerns about the state of the prison system and the wardens running it are being raised after the riot, the second major incident in less than two years. In the June 4 incident, 400 inmates ran amok, torching buildings on the island near Lantau. Fighting led to 35 people being injured - 22 inmates, four warders and nine police officers.
The Sunday Morning Post has found that the senior prison officer heading the board of inquiry into the riot was responsible for monitoring intelligence at all CSD facilities, which sources say should have alerted management to any tensions.