Female inmates make envelops at Chi Sun Correctional Institution. Provided to China Daily

Prisoners line up at Stanley Prison. Provided to China Daily

It doesn't take much to wreck a man's life. A few wrong moves and a turn in prison can ruin his future prospects, render him unemployable and create conditions that place the ex-con at high risk to re-offend. Ming Yeung reports.

His eyes betray an almost congenital weariness. His emaciated frame adds to the impression. What really gives Chan away are the gaudy amateur tattoos, executed with a needle attached to an electric razor. He got them from a fellow inmate, when he was in prison back in the 1970s. Chan's been in and out of prison four times since he was 15. The last time they let him go might have been an occasion for unambiguous joy but Chan had no place to go. He was practically penniless when he hit the street.

"I basically ended up living on the street for up to seven months," said Chan, 58.

Chan followed the usual road map into a life of crime. He left school in 1967 and got into the gang scene with other kids who had had tough upbringing. He racked up a string of successful armed robberies and seemed to be doing pretty well in his life of crime, until he got caught. That cost him three years in a training center.

Chan was 18 by the time he was discharged. He worked with his step-father as a plumber. Chan got married at 21. Life was pretty good but Chan could never shake free of the urge to get back together with his old street buddies. He was aware of the temptations that would present themselves if he took up his old way of life. The same old buddies were the principal ingredients in a formula for stirring up old troubles. Still, Hong Kong's a small place, and encountering his old friends seemed unavoidable.

"I bumped into them on the street occasionally," Chan said.

So Chan went to work for his "big brother" as a brothel "keeper". He knew it was illegal but the job paid HK$250 a day. And that was a lot better than he could make elsewhere.

He managed to slip under the police radar for two years.

"It was my turn when the police came and charged us," Chan recalled. He elaborated: He and two other men took shifts. If the place got busted on their shift, they took the fall. Chan got a year in jail.

That pretty much finished Chan's hanging out with old associates, despite the tempting promises of easy money. He got a job as a truck driver and life was pretty normal for nearly two decades before he had his next brush with the law. The nightmare returned in 1989.

While on the job, driving his truck, Chan ran down an elderly woman and her grandson, killing both. Chan was convicted of dangerous driving causing death and sentenced to 18 months.

Chan was caught unprepared. He was completely alone. His wife and children had migrated to Taiwan but Chan couldn't go. Authorities there rejected his application because of his background. Chan applied for a bed in a halfway house provided by the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention (SRCP). The society is an NGO providing services for ex-offenders, helping them to reintegrate as law-abiding citizens. Chan was able to occupy the bed for a year, with relatively low demand at the time.

The SRCP currently offers 130 spaces in three halfway houses. The spaces are filled by the qualified applicants on a first-come-first-served basis, usually for a maximum of three months. There is an average waiting period of five weeks. Those in urgent need of a place to stay are offered two-month rental and meal allowances of HK$120 doled out every three days.

Many prisoners arrive back on the streets with only a few hundred dollars in their pockets - money hard earned at HK$20.16 to HK$163.7 a week, working in the prisons. Most able-bodied ex-inmates apply for social welfare upon release but it takes 35 days before they get their first payment. That's why many have nowhere to go, not even a place to sleep.

With enormous hardships, ex-convicts tend to re-offend. According to a survey conducted by the Society for Community Organization (SoCO) in 2009, there are 5,000 to 7,000 inmates in service. Roughly 10,000 are released every year.

"The reason is that some prisoners keep going in and out of jail with short terms of imprisonment," said Ng Wai-tung, community organizer of the SoCO.

Nearly 60 percent of the prisoners serve less than a year of imprisonment for petty crimes.

"Some prisoners even then feel that they are returning to a living hell after discharge," Ng added.

Figures provided by the Correctional Services Department (CSD) covering the past five years support Ng's view. Within three years after discharge, nearly half of prisoners end up back in jail. The city's high level of recidivism is caused by two key drivers - poverty and inequality, Ng explained.

In 2009, the SoCO proposed that the government relax regulations, so that needy former inmates have the right to receive basic allowances immediately after their release and to have a stable shelter guaranteed.

A Social Welfare Department spokesman said when there is genuine hardship, the director of Social Welfare may, at his discretion, grant payment from the date of application of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) but only a few prisoners were reported to have received the discretionary waiver of the one-month waiting period.

"Due-to-be discharged offenders who wish to apply for the CSSA immediately upon release can make an application prior to their release, by post or through referrals by Welfare Officers of the CSD or other NGOs to make special arrangement. Upon receipt of an application, the department will process it as soon as possible upon the applicant's release from prison," the spokesman replied.

Besides the lack of financial support, former prisoners find it exceptionally difficult to find employment because of their history.

"There were so many kinds of jobs you could choose from (in the early 1990s) no matter if you have a criminal record or not," recalled Chan, who encountered a completely different scenario when he was released from jail for the third time in early 2000.

Chan was rejected when he applied to be a security guard or truck driver.

"At interviews, the bosses asked me if I had a record. Even if I lied, it was no use because they could have access to the record anyway," he said.

After spending several fruitless years searching for work, Chan eventually was hired by a restaurant to deliver food. He did that for a year. That job ended when he assaulted his boss in the midst of an argument in 2009. Chan went back to jail. Unlike the last time, when Chan was released, the SRCP failed to provide him accommodation.

Now he's still awaiting a flat in public housing.

Even though the government prepared to help to pay his rent a month after discharge, he lacks sufficient funds to pay two months' rent in advance. He slept on the street for seven months.

Ng said the government can assist ex-offenders to restore their lives by giving them effective vocational training in prison.

At present, all adult persons in custody, unless certified physically unfit, are required by law to work six days a week. However, rather than providing any pragmatic vocational training to meet the standards in this knowledge-based economy, Ng said some inmates have complained that the CSD provides low-skilled labor such as laundry and carpentry. Most think prison work is of no value to them for finding an occupation after they are released.

In response to China Daily's inquiry, a spokesman for the CSD replied that for young inmates under 21 years, the CSD provides a half-day compulsory vocational training such as air-conditioning and refrigeration maintenance, and beauty care, to name a few.

For adult offenders, the CSD provides pre-release full-time and part-time vocational training courses on a voluntary basis organized at various institutions.

To ensure participants acquire updated and useful skills, the CSD organizes vocational training courses through outsource and work partnerships with prestigious training bodies. These include the Vocational Training Council, the Construction Industry Council and the Employees Retraining Board. The courses are market-oriented and assist offenders in enhancing their employability upon release, the spokesman said.

Ng said only about 10 percent of inmates take the training. Ng suggested the CSD provide short-term retraining courses with competitive salaries to attract adult prisoners.

"The resources poured in will not be wasted. The prisoners will have the ability and expertise to contribute after release. This is beneficial to all sectors as a whole," Ng said.

A prisoner at Stanley Prison. Provided to China Daily

(HK Edition 05/13/2011 page4)