Number of people on remand in Hong Kong jails pending trial hits decade high, but figures for new prisoners and detained suspects drop

The number of people remanded in Hong Kong jails pending trial has hit a more than decade high, the correctional services chief has said, although figures for newly admitted prisoners and detained suspects have dropped markedly.

Commissioner of Correctional Services Wong Kwok-hing revealed at his department’s annual review briefing on Thursday that the average daily number of people on remand had risen to 2,666 last year from 2,316 in 2021, a previous 10-year high.

He said the Correctional Services Department was planning to redevelop Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre to increase its capacity by another 410 places to ease overcrowding. The centre now has 1,484 places.

The figures were released a week after police revealed that more than 140 people had been charged under the national security law since Beijing imposed the legislation, which has a higher threshold for bail, on the city in 2020.

But Wong said the number of new prison admissions, made up of convicted defendants, suspects on remand and immigration detainees, fell from 15,311 in 2021 to 13,246 last year, a 13 per cent drop.

Some 829 people were freshly admitted last year owing to offences connected to national security or the 2019 anti-government protests, a decrease of 156 – or 16 per cent – over the 985 recorded in 2021.