Suicide rate in Hong Kong prisons is much lower than those of most other foreign countries, the Correctional Services Department said on Friday.

The department arranged a media visit on Friday to the Stanley Prison, the largest high-security prison in the Special Administrative Region, to explain measures that the department has taken to prevent inmates from committing suicide or wounding themselves.

At a press conference held there, the department's chief superintendent, Thomas Yeung revealed that there were on average about 11,000 prisoners in all Hong Kong prisons.

The suicide rate, he said, was rather low when compared to foreign countries, he said.

In 2005 and 2006, for instance, it was 0.16 and 0.25 out of 1,000 prisoners respectively - much lower than that of Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

"Since they are handed to us by the courts, we have the legal duty to ensure their personal safety apart from remanding and rehabilitating them," Yeung said. Taking Stanley Prison as an example, he pointed out that last year, 14 inmates serving sentences in the prison had attempted to commit suicide and all of them were saved. In 2006, there were 15 suicide cases, resulting in two deaths.

In recent years, the number ranged from 10 to 20 a year, Yeung said.

Of the 14 suicide cases last year, nine of the inmates used bed linens to hang themselves while the others used sharp tools, he said.

Yeung, however, said the prison should not stop providing bed linens to the inmates because bed linens are their basic necessities.

The inmates usually get upset and have the tendency to commit suicide after receiving letters from and visit by their families.

As a preventive measure, prison officers will conduct risk assessment of new inmates as to whether they will kill or wound themselves, Yeung added.

Officers go around on night patrol and watch through the door hole of each cell every 20 minutes to ensure there is no problem.

Last year on Dec 28, Tsang Chi-keung, an assistant prison officer, rescued an inmate who used a linen to hang himself through his alertness when he was patrolling at 6am.

He immediately called for help from his colleagues, unlocked the cell, treated the inmate and called for an ambulance to send him to hospital.

"I am very happy to have saved a life," he said.

Yeung said: "For the night shift, we have seven officers on standby but they have no specific duties. They just sit there in case of emergency."

(HK Edition 03/01/2008 page1)