Hong Kong prison authorities will seek ban on those under supervision orders from leaving city, correctional services chief says
- Commissioner of Correctional Services Wong Kwok-hing says potential ban is response to activist who sought asylum overseas while under such an order last year
- Wong adds the average daily number of people in remand in city reached a two-decade high
Hong Kong’s prison authorities will seek to ban people on supervision orders from leaving the city even as the average daily number of people in remand reached a two-decade high, the head of the Correctional Services Department has said.
Commissioner Wong Kwok-hing revealed on Thursday that his department would seek a legal amendment to the authorities’ powers over supervision orders on discharged prisoners to allow officers to veto requests of overseas travel.
Wong said the potential ban was a response to an activist fleeing the city to seek asylum overseas while under such an order last year.
“On Tony Chung Hon-lam’s absconding incident, we are looking into a legal amendment with relevant departments to prevent people under supervision from leaving Hong Kong,” he said.
Chung, formerly a convenor of pro-independence group Studentlocalism, announced on social media in December that he had sought political asylum in Britain. The 22-year-old activist was under a one-year post-release supervision arrangement by the department at the time.
On the day the activist announced his plan, the department issued an order requiring Chung to return to the city.
Under the Post-Release Supervision of Prisoners Ordinance, those discharged are subject to a statutory period of observation of one year.