Quality Assurance
| Inspectorate and Security Unit | Complaints Investigation Unit | Management Services and Research Unit |
Quality Assurance Division (QAD) continued to conduct timely review and initiate enhancements for upholding the performance standard of the Department in 2016.
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Inspectorate and Security Unit
The Inspectorate Sub-unit is committed to providing systematic and quality inspections to correctional facilities to ensure departmental policies are followed, rules and regulations duly complied with, approved practices and standards consistently maintained, and resources gainfully deployed to enhance efficiency.
In 2016, the Inspectorate Sub-unit conducted four full inspections, 22 thematic inspections, 26 follow-up inspections, 14 security inspections and 12 surprise visits to various correctional facilities.
To uphold the performance standard and address public aspirations that come with the ever changing society and penal environment, the Inspectorate Sub-unit continued to contribute enhancement initiatives. These included, among others, particularly a review on the operational guidelines for security check on visitors, the introduction of the high sensitivity handheld metal detector at main gates of all penal institutions in 2016, as means of security improvement to prevent any person from bringing unauthorised article into correctional facilities.
During the year, the Security Sub-unit made every effort to stamp out the smuggling of contrabands into correctional institutions for a drug-free environment. There were 40 cases of discovering dangerous drugs, all were intercepted on the doorstep of the institutions.
Wiping out gambling and illicit activities in correctional facilities is an important mission of the Security Sub-unit. To thwart gambling and other illicit activities, sound intelligence networks were built up and frequent searching operations were enforced. In 2016, 135 joint searching operations, 7 110 special searching operations and 132 night raid operations were conducted in institutions with fruitful results.
On the training front, the Inspectorate and Security Unit deployed QAD officers to attend courses organised by other law enforcement agencies and arranged job-related training with professional academics on “Torture Claim”, “Investigation Skills” , “Equal Opportunities” and “Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance”.
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Complaints Investigation Unit
Appointed by the Commissioner of Correctional Services, the Complaints Investigation Unit (CIU) handles and investigates all complaints within its purview, the results of which are examined by the Correctional Services Department Complaints Committee (CSDCC). Customer Satisfaction Surveys are conducted in order to gauge satisfaction with CIU services. In 2016, the satisfaction rating was over 90%. CIU introduced the international quality management system in 2000 and was accredited certificate by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency in August 2000 and then upgraded to ISO 9001: 2008 in January 2009, which demonstrated the efforts of CIU in making continuous improvements.
In 2016, CIU received 345 complaint cases / requests / enquiries from persons in custody and the public. Among them, 120 complaint cases entailed full investigation by CIU, 44 complaint cases entailed handling by institutions under CIU monitoring, 181 were requests / enquiries. Besides, CSDCC examined and endorsed the investigation reports on a total of 113 complaint cases and made 21 recommendations for service improvement.
In view of the emerging public aspiration for independency and transparency over complaints handling system of public services, the Correctional Services Department Complaints Appeal Board (CSDCAB) was established on August 1, 2016. In the newly established CSDCAB, the Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services is the Chairman and the non-official members invited are prominent community members familiarised with the correctional regime. Currently, 10 persons (all of them are Non-official Justices of the Peace) are appointed to be the non-official members. CSDCAB makes final decision on the appeal cases and replaced the previous re-examination function of CSDCC and the appeal mechanism to the Commissioner of Correctional Services.
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Management Services and Research Unit
In 2016, the Research Unit of Administration and Planning Division was restructured under Quality Assurance Division, forming the new Management Services and Research Unit with two sub-units: Research Sub-unit and Management Services Sub-unit.
The Research Sub-unit provides research support for the strategic planning, monitoring and review of the Department’ s operation and correctional programmes. It also assists the Department to engage with overseas correctional counterparts via international conferences and forums, such as Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA), International Corrections and Prisons Association International Conference (ICPA), etc.
The Management Services Sub-unit constantly reviews the relevant legislation under the Department’ s purview, departmental standing orders and operational manuals to ensure that they are in line with operational needs and able to meet the demands arising from the changing environment in society. In 2016, the Sub-unit collaborated with Civil Service Training and Development Institute to conduct a review on the “Vision, Mission and Values” statement of the Department in order to keep it abreast of time and the long-term development needs.
The Management Services Sub-unit also conducts researches in the application of technology for operational and security enhancement. The Department completed a trial run in 2015 on the use of Body Worn Camera. In 2016, Body Worn Camera is being used in penal institutions including their visiting areas, Mong Kok Counselling Centre and the Escort and Support Group in order to assist staff in handling ad hoc incidents, such as incidents that involved violence, contrabands, self-harm or resistant behaviour, etc. It may also be used by supervising staff in recalling supervisees who have breached supervision requirements to penal institutions during operations.
Following the implementation of low-radiation X-ray body scanner at Lai King Correctional Institution and Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre in 2016, all reception centres are equipped with X-ray body scanner, replacing most of the manual rectal searches conducted on persons in custody. In early 2017, an additional X-ray body scanner will be installed at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre.
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