In 1840, the First Opium War broke out between the Qing dynasty of China and Britain, and the Qing dynasty was defeated. While the peace negotiations were still underway, the British troops had already landed on Possession Point on 26 January 1841 and claimed possession of Hong Kong Island. On 30 April 1841, Captain William Caine was appointed by the British government as the Chief Magistrate and head of the Police and the Gaol, responsible for conducting trials and administering punishments to offenders. By the end of 1841, Hong Kong's first prison, the Central Prison (later renamed as Victoria Prison), was built on the hillside due east of Old Bailey Street in Central. It marked the beginning of the prison development in Hong Kong.

Later, Hong Kong's penal development went through different eras. Apart from the Victoria era starting from the inception of the Central Prison, there were also the war years marking the start of the Second World War, the reconstruction period in the post-war era, the reform era following the prison riot in 1973 as well as the rehabilitation era after the renaming of the Prisons Department as the Correctional Services Department in 1982.