Operation Santa Claus: works of mercy for people behind bars up for cash from Hong Kong charity drive
- Catholic priest founded educational charity Voice for Prisoners after he noticed an increase in overseas drugs mules jailed in Hong Kong
- The charity has now expanded to look after young Hongkongers who end up behind bars for drugs offences
A Catholic priest who works as a Hong Kong prison chaplain in 2017 spotted an increase in “drugs mules” who had fallen foul of the city’s tough laws against trafficking and ended up behind bars.
Father John Wotherspoon decided it was down to him to do something to help and started to raise cash for the imprisoned, often from poor backgrounds, to help them get an education through distance learning while locked up in Hong Kong.
“The courses help them improve themselves so that they can get a better job when they get out … If they have some education, this will enable them to have skills to offer to any future employer or the ability to start up their own business,” he said. “It is important to society that they become good citizens and do not reoffend.”
Wotherspoon and his charity Voice for Prisoners have helped hundreds of prisoners over the years in a variety of ways, including funding their education - and now the group is one of the nominated organisations for this year’s Operation Santa Claus.
He found that those caught were mostly from Africa who were enticed or tricked into trafficking illegal drugs to Hong Kong, either for sale in the city or in the Chinese mainland.
Others were from South America and most were from poor families, some with an urgent need to pay medical or education bills.
