The city tightened prison rules, allowing authorities to restrict visits, including those by certain lawyers and religious personnel, on national security grounds.
Under the new rules, effective yesterday, magistrates can issue warrants on application by correctional service officers to bar exchanges between specific legal representatives and persons in custody if the judges believe such connections could harm national security or cause bodily harm to any person, among other reasons.
The department can also restrict certain visits, including those made by specific chaplains, for purposes such as maintaining national security, preventing crime and facilitating inmate rehabilitation.
Critics worry the changes could undermine inmate rights in a city where many democracy advocates were arrested for their political activism following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Official data show hundreds of people were sent to correctional services facilities each year between 2020 and 2024 over offences linked to the protests or for allegedly endangering national security.
In a discussion of the changes with lawmakers this month, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang said some prison visitors specifically went to see inmates who were jailed for their roles in “the black violence” – a phrase officials use to describe the 2019 protests – and they continued to stoke anger against the government.
Tang said that was “no good” for safeguarding national security and detrimental to maintaining prison security.
The city’s government, without specifying, said a past incident in which an inmate handed over unauthorised articles to his legal adviser to take out of the prison during a visit has raised public concern.
Last year, the city’s court system convicted jailed activist Owen Chow and his lawyer after the lawyer took Chow’s complaint form, concerning correctional service officers, out of prison without prior approval.
Officials maintained that when a magistrate issues a warrant to bar an inmate from consulting with a particular lawyer, the prisoner can still seek advice from another legal representative of their choice and be entitled to the right to confidential legal advice.
Lawmakers will scrutinise the legal changes next week. — AP
