I refer to letter by J. H. Fleming headlined 'Smaller prisons are more manageable' (South China Morning Post, July 11). The co-location of penal institutions project will not result in the construction of a single prison to house 7,000 prisoners under one roof as is suggested by Mr Fleming. It is, in fact, a penal facility comprising a group of institutions. Each facility will have its own perimeter walls or fences and hold a manageable number of between 400 and 800 prisoners. Within each institution, the current unit management concept will apply. Prisoners of each unit will be separated from those in other units in work, accommodation and recreation. Security risks will be kept to the minimum. In the event of an emergency, the situation will be confined to a small number of prisoners within an institution. The physical separation of the institutions and established contingency measures together with advanced security systems will further and effectively prevent the spread of mass unrest to other institutions in the prison complex. One of the objectives of the co-location plan is to have more flexibility in the deployment of manpower and other resources to achieve a significant degree of economy of scale. By co-locating a number of penal institutions at a single site, the maximum number of Correctional Services staff will be pooled together for standby duties and can be deployed to deal with emergency situations in the most flexible manner within the shortest possible time. The management and security in penal operations nowadays have been greatly improved compared with the 1960s. With the employment of sophisticated detection systems and continuously improved management and security measures, it will take a desperate attempt by either staff or inmates to smuggle dangerous drugs into our penal institutions. This includes existing facilities and those within the co-located facility. AU SIU-HAU for Commissioner of Correctional Services
