Rehabilitation
| Pre-sentence Assessment | Risks and Needs Assessment and Management Protocol for Offenders |
| Welfare Support and Counselling | Psychological Services | Education | Statutory Supervision | Half-way House |
| Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) | Community Engagement | Rehabilitation Pioneer Project |
Set up in 1998, our 18 years of experience have firmly established the Division in the offender rehabilitation front. The Rehabilitation Division bases our professionalism on CSD’s principles of placing dual emphasis on custodial and rehabilitative services advocated in 1982. In 2016, we continued to use the theme “Give Rehabilitated Offenders A Chance” to design our diversified yet unique on-going initiatives and enhanced programmes to help offenders rehabilitate and reintegrate into society.
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Pre-sentence Assessment
Pre-sentence Assessment provides the court with profiles of the offenders and makes recommendations on the rehabilitation scheme for them. There were 2 623 cases in 2016.
The Young Offender Assessment Panel, composed of correctional and social welfare professionals, provides coordinated views to the court in the sentencing of young offenders by conducting interviews and assessments. In 2016, the Panel handled 103 referrals and 88.3% of recommendations were accepted.
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Risks and Needs Assessment and Management Protocol for Offenders
The Protocol was designed to identify persons in custody prone to custodial as well as re-offending risks to enhance prison management, and to deliver rehabilitative programmes matching with offenders' needs to facilitate their rehabilitation. In 2016, 3 226 re-offending risks and rehabilitative need assessments were completed and 10 296 sessions of Risks and Needs Programme Matching were conducted with 25 772 participants.
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Welfare Support and Counselling
The Rehabilitation Division renders welfare support and counselling to persons in custody right from their admission to correctional institutions when they may be facing the difficult time during custody. The main objectives are to cater for the welfare needs of persons in custody, help them deal with their adjustment problems, address their offending behaviour and prepare them for reintegration into society. In 2016, we conducted 183 999 individual counselling sessions and 1 418 pre-release reintegration orientation courses.
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Psychological Services
Targeting offending behaviour by addressing criminogenic needs, psychological services are rendered to enhance the psychological well-being of offenders while under custodial care. Using clinical tools, systematic psychological assessment and follow-up are provided. The Division continued to strengthen the psychological treatment programmes targeting offending behaviours for sex offenders, violent offenders, young offenders, drug abusers, and female persons in custody. In 2016, 30 334 counselling sessions were conducted and 448 assessment reports were prepared.
The Department held the Conference on Risk Management of Offenders in June, 2016 to discuss the effective ways to manage re-offending risk of offenders with related professionals. The keynote speaker Emeritus Professor Friendrich Lösel of the University of Cambridge, UK, was invited to share the latest research results.
We continued our collaboration with renowned academics to develop the tools for assessing re-offending risks of adult violent offenders and sex offenders. In 2016, we have successfully completed the development of a battery of psychological assessment tools for local young offenders to facilitate assessment, treatment and evaluation work. With the new psychological assessment protocol, we envisage having more detailed and accurate understanding of the psychological risks and needs profile of the new generation of young offenders in the coming decades.
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Education
The Education Unit caters for young persons in custody with customised programmes, focusing on general and practical studies. Facilities are continuously being upgraded for enhancing their learning effectiveness. Eligible persons in custody are assisted in participating in public examinations, such as the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination. We are committed to strengthening education support for young persons in custody to equip them academically and assist them to attain accredited qualifications.
For adult persons in custody, we cooperate with the Open University of Hong Kong and other educational institutions to promote higher learning and self-improvement, and have arranged for members of CSD Rehabilitation Volunteer Group (CSDRVG) to run educational classes for them. In 2016, a total of 804 public examination papers were taken and the overall passing rate was 64%.
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Statutory Supervision
Statutory supervision safeguards young persons in custody, drug addicts and certain persons in custody in their transition back into society. Supervision staff visit supervisees’ home and workplace, and work with them and their social networks to garner respect and support. At the end of 2016, 1 806 persons were under active statutory supervision.
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Half-way House
Half-way House extends efforts beyond detention, training and drug addiction treatment centres or prisons. Supervisees residing in a half-way house may go out to work or attend school during daytime for better reintegration, discipline and civic awareness. Recreational and social activities are also available.
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Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)
The Department works closely with NGOs to provide rehabilitation programmes. In 2016, volunteers from over 80 NGOs served from counselling to the running of cultural, religious and recreational projects. In December 2016, we held an NGO Forum in collaboration with the City University of Hong Kong to boost cooperation with NGOs. In the same month, correctional facilities under CSD held various activities under the theme of "Thank-you NGO Month" to let persons in custody express their gratitude towards personnel and volunteers of NGOs which have been cooperating with the Department for a long time.
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Community Engagement
We reach out to the community to seek public engagement for offender rehabilitation. Among other partners, the Committee on Community Support for Rehabilitated Offenders, composed of community leaders and professionals, advises on offender rehabilitation and publicity strategies.
CSDRVG organises activities to supplement services in meeting the needs of persons in custody. With around 250 volunteers, the Group conducted language courses, computer studies, cultural pursuits, etc., for persons in custody in various correctional institutions.
Publicity activities have been on-going since 1999, constituting a bridge between persons in custody and society. Through activities such as District Fight Crime Committees District-based Publicity Activities on Offender Rehabilitation, Thank-you NGO Month, NGO Forum and Award Presentation Ceremony for Volunteers of CSDRVG, the importance of collaborative efforts made by members of the community and NGOs to accept and help offenders rehabilitate was highlighted.
CSD collaborates with various employers, business organisations and statutory bodies through institutional visits and other interactions to help enhance the employability of rehabilitated persons.
In June 2016, more than 200 representatives from around 80 business organisations, social enterprises and statutory bodies etc. attended the "Unleashing Rehabilitated Offenders' Potential" Employment Symposium jointly held by CSD and the Centre for Criminology of the University of Hong Kong. It provided a platform for employers who had hired rehabilitated offenders to share their experiences and for rehabilitated offenders to share their stories of reintegration. The event also aimed to appeal to the public and employers to give fair job opportunities to rehabilitated offenders and help them reintegrate into society.In December 2016, CSD jointly held the Job Fair for Rehabilitated Offenders with the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong and Merchants Support for Rehabilitated Offenders Committee Limited. Employers gathered in one place to interview persons in custody in correctional institutions via video conferencing. It provided a platform for persons in custody who would be released soon to look for jobs, thus helping them reintegrate into society quickly after release.
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Rehabilitation Pioneer Project
The Rehabilitation Pioneer Project (RPP) includes a series of activities to disseminate to the public the messages of leading a law-abiding and drug-free life as well as supporting offender rehabilitation.
The Education Talks provide basic information on Hong Kong’s criminal justice system and CSD’s custodial and rehabilitative programmes.
The Personal Encounter with Prisoners Scheme instills anti-crime awareness by arranging young students to visit correctional institutions and meet with persons in custody for experience sharing.
The Green Haven Scheme promotes anti-drug messages and the importance of environmental protection among young people. Participants meet with young persons in custody at treatment centres on Hei Ling Chau, gaining insight into the detrimental effects of drug abuse.
Visits to Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum foster participants’ understanding of the development of correctional services, particularly the importance of public support for offender rehabilitation.
The Student Forum is another crime prevention programme which stimulates students’ introspection and discussion by featuring a micro-movie and a sharing session by a rehabilitated person.
The Extended Training Camp featuring a series of discipline training activities in Ma Hang Prison and on Hei Ling Chau aims at enhancing participants’ confidence and developing their positive values.
The Drama and Music Performance of "Creation and Rehabilitation" enables students to enjoy drama and music performances presented by persons in custody at the Stanley Prison. The programme provides a platform for persons in custody to contribute to the community by warning the students against committing crimes and reminding them the importance of obeying the law. In January and November 2016, about 900 secondary school students were arranged to attend the programme at Stanley Prison.
The Reflective Path aims at enhancing students’ understanding of the criminal judicial system and correctional services, as well as the heavy cost for committing crimes through the simulation of the real situation in prison.
For the purpose of strengthening connections with the youths and students, as well as maintaining a platform for information dissemination, RPP launched its Facebook Page in January 2016. The page contains highlights of RPP activities, Correctional Services common knowledge, video of sharing by persons in custody and links of news coverage on the Department.
In May 2016, RPP held an essay competition for all RPP participants. Among some 700 entries received, 43 prize winners were selected and awarded to a four-day Mainland Study Tour in July 2016. Throughout the tour, adventure-based training and visits to schools and families in rural areas, an eco-friendly factory of a global enterprise as well as a large-scale infrastructure were arranged, so as to provide participants with an all-round learning experience conducive to their whole-person development, and to foster the development of positive values and attitudes.