FORTY years ago an observer on a rare visit to Hong Kong's only prison for women described wretched forces of evil, forced to fester together behind bars for their horrible crimes against mankind.
''Do not think they are women. Actually, some of them are villainous characters. Others are swindlers, prostitutes and the wicked elements from all walks of life.
''That cruel and wicked maid servant, Ah Ying, who tried to kill her mistress by pouring boiling water over her and then striking her with the telephone, is one of the inmates.
''It is said that since her admission to the prison she has given birth to a baby, which is quite white and fat and has blue eyes, too.'' Attitudes towards women offenders may have changed in the four decades since, but Hong Kong's prisons are still sanctuaries for babies.
Today, Superintendent Cheung Ming-leung, the Correctional Services Department senior officer in charge of Tai Lam Centre for Women, boasts: ''I have 493 prisoners - and three babies.'' The three brown-eyed toddlers, Fei Tsai, eight months, Kei Kei, 19 months, and Ah Ying, 21/2 years, are Hong Kong's youngest prisoners as a consequence of crimes and misdemeanours by their mothers.
''I have just received an application relating to an illegal immigrant mother with two babies,'' Mr Cheung proudly exclaimed.