Stanley Prison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 22°12′43″N 114°13′08″E / 22.21194, 114.21889

Aerial view of Stanley Prison

Stanley Prison (赤柱監獄 c. January 1937, previously known as Hong Kong Prison) is one of the five maximum security prisons in Hong Kong and is currently the oldest institution still in service (the oldest prison built in Hong Kong was Victoria Prison, which ceased operation on 24 December 2005^[1]). It was set up by the then Prisons Department, and is now administered by the Correctional Services Department. The maximum capacity of prison is 1,714 and has over 800 staff and officers.

Hong Kong officially abolished the death penalty in 1993. Before that Stanley Prison had been a place of execution, with over 160 criminals executed there, although the last sentence was carried out there in the 1960s. This figure does not include the large number of prisoners killed by the Japanese there during the occupation in World War Two. The area which once housed the gallows has now been replaced with the medical treatment wing.

[edit] Japanese Occupation

Hong Kong fell to the invading Japanese on Christmas Day 1941 following a brief but brutal conflict. During the Japanese occupation, the grounds of the prison were used as part of Stanley Internment Camp. It was a place of torture and execution with Mateen Ahmed Ansari, who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his heroism in resisting the Japanese being one of the most famous victims. Nearly 600 prisoners of war and civilians, killed by the Japanese during the occupation, are buried in the war cemetery.^[2]