cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/47473612
Former Hong Kong prison inmates have told of inhumane and degrading conditions in new research published today by Amnesty International, as the organization called for authorities to urgently investigate the situation in the city’s correctional facilities.
Nine former inmates jailed between 2016 and 2023 reported physical violence, prolonged solitary confinement, poor sanitary conditions and dangerously high summer temperatures during their incarceration across 11 prisons in the territory.
“These accounts of Hong Kong prison life by former inmates reveal a pattern of ill-treatment that has caused significant mental and physical harm and demands immediate investigation,” Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said.
“Subjecting inmates to extreme heat, filthy conditions and violent punishment amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may amount to torture under international law. Hong Kong’s government must end this culture of abuse and ensure those responsible for human rights abuses in its prisons are held accountable.”
Hong Kong authorities responded to Amnesty to refute the claims as a “malicious smear”.
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Tony Chung, a political activist held on remand at the Pik Uk Correctional Institution for juvenile offenders from October 2020 to April 2022, told Amnesty International that violence by prison officers against inmates was commonplace.
“Sometimes, when officers were unhappy with an inmate, they would bring the inmate to a corridor where there was no CCTV coverage, and then I could hear the inmate screaming and the sounds of a ‘chicken wing’,” he said. ‘Chicken wing’ is a term used to describe officers striking an inmate’s shoulder blades with their elbows, a method intended to avoid leaving visible bruises.
Peter*, who was held in the same facility from 2016 over protest-related offences, said he was assaulted by a correctional officer on his first day because he did not know how to address staff properly.
“In juvenile prisons, inmates must use specific phrases to report their names and hold their ID cards in front of their chests,” he said. “I didn’t know that because I was new, so I was slapped in the face eight times as punishment.”
Peter said corporal punishment was used by officers to assert authority and to instil fear in juvenile facility.
“You could get beaten if your blanket wasn’t folded neatly or if your hands weren’t firm and straight enough while standing,” he said. “Once, I was asked to memorize the prison rulebook, then suddenly ordered to recite it backwards. For every wrong word, I was hit once on the soles of my feet. In the end, my soles turned purple.”
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