Old prisons remembered

Old prisons remembered

A review of Hong Kong’s prison history was written in the 1930s by the newspaper columnist who signed himself “Colonialist.”

The serious condition at the local gaols these days, resulting in the deportation of many convicts after they have served only a portion of their sentences, suggests a little research into the system of dealing with convicts in the Colony’s early years. The records show that shortly after the foundation of Hongkong, the authorities were embarrassed almost as much as they are today owing to the difficulty of dealing adequately with the convicted criminals in their midst. For a time there was no desire to have European convicts in the island, and the Government were at a loss where to send them. It was provided in 1844 that convicts under sentence of transportations – a sentence existing in those days, based on the Indian Penal Code which had been adopted by the Crown Colonies – should be sent to Van Diemen’s Land [Tasmania]. The following year, however, provision was made to accommodate these criminals in the Colony itself, and in 1846 we find that certain convicts were sent to Scinde [India] and to Penang and Singapore (the later mainly Chinese pirates) suggesting that they continued to offer a problem to the prison authorities. Over forty years later, in 1889, we find records of European convicts from Hongkong still being sent to the Cape of Good Hope [South Africa]; a practice commenced in 1848. It may seem that the various selected places had not in those days, enough spirit to “kick” against this dunning process; but the Cape had in 1850, ineffectually protested, as did the Straits in 1851. White convicts from the garrison, after sentence by court martial, were still being sent to Van Diemen’s Land up to at least the early Nineties [1890s]

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Yet there actually were gaols in the Colony, the Hongkong prison, one of the first two buildings erected, being completed in 1841, for the accommodation mainly of Chinese prisoners. One of the early sites selected was Stonecutters Island, and the obvious derivation of the name is here – the place where granite was quarried, cut and broken by gaol labour. Erection of a gaol was commenced at Stonecutters in 1861 and was completed in 1864, but the building, we learn, was destroyed by a typhoon in 1875. It is on record that the prison had been abandoned some time before its destruction, owing to the prisoners making frequent escapes therefrom, and was thus in a state of disrepair when the typhoon finished it off. Reference to gaol breaks recalls that even our modern prisons in the Colony have not been without their more or less sensational escapes in recent years.

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While gaol accommodation was being found ashore, the authorities resorted to the use of a hulk off Stonecutters Island, which had fore some time been moored there, apparently in Laichikok bay. This hulk, named the Royal Saxon, was put into commission in 1863, when about 300 long-term men were transferred to it; but escape from the hulk appears to have been extraordinarily easy, for there were a number of such records, and in 1864 no fewer than a hundred prisoners, in collusion with the guards, got away. The records show that there was also a tragedy in the previous year, 1863, when a boat with prisoners bound for the hulk capsized, and 38 convicts were drowned. The use of the hulk as a gaol came to an end in 1866, and it was sold and taken to Canton.

In 1857 three European convicts escaped from the Hongkong gaol, after bribing two Indian guards. Only one man was recaptured, at Amoy. The same year, a large batch of Chinese convicts was again transported, this time to Labuan [an island in what is now Malaysia].

And so the chronicle goes on – and one cannot help wondering whether the prison problem, like the water shortage, is an ever recurring one.

The references to local prisons in the early years of the Colony, in yesterday’s article, recall that the conferring of nicknames on such establishments goes back a good many years. The tendency to name such a place a “hotel”, and attach the surname of the Superintendent, is nothing new! The old Victoria Gaol was once known as “Douglas’ Hotel,” after the Superintendent who was appointed about seventy years ago. Reference was made yesterday to the frequent records of escapes from the prisons, and the old chronicles related that a particularly daring one was effected in 1863, from the Hongkong gaol, when quite a number of convicts made their way out of the building by crawling through the drains. There was an outcry against what was considered laxity on the part of the officials, and a Commission – they had the Commission habit even then – was appointed to investigate matters. Following its report, a new Superintendent was appointed. He was Mr F. Douglas, and thus arose the name of “Douglas’ Hotel.” Evidently our forebears in Hongkong were not without their sense of humour.

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It appears that the post of Superintendent of the Gaol had been most unpopular, and various Government departments were searched in vain for someone who would undertake the job, the pay for which was the fairly good one (in those days) of $120 a month with free quarters. Eventually resort was had to the shipping in port, and for a time the prison was superintended by the mate from a vessel in harbour. It is on record that the man in question had a “past” which was not quite favourable, but that did not debar him from appointment to the post.

Mr Douglas, however, was appointed by the Secretary of State, and the prison regime improved from that date. This officer died in 1874, and references to his fine qualities were made by the Chief Justice of the time in the Supreme Court. The funeral was attended by the leading people of the Colony; and about three years later a gratuity of $1,920 was voted by the Legislative Council for his children.

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In July, 1866, three pirates were publicly executed in Hongkong. These men were implicated in the piracy of the “Carl.” Previous to the execution, numerous petitions from Chinese hongs were presented to the Governor for a reprieve of one of the prisoners on the ground that the petitioners believed that it was a case of mistaken identity. In fact, so numerous were the petitioners that at one time a reprieve had actually been ordered by the prisoner himself afterwards acknowledged that he had been a cook on the piratical junk and had taken part in the affair.

The whole of the preparations connected with the execution, we are told, were of a satisfactory character, and it took place punctually and without any mishap. The gallows was guarded by about 150 police under the command of Captain Quin and the spectators, numbering 2,000, witnessed the spectacle without any manifestation of feeling.

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The following is a notice published on 23rd August, 1866:

“The prisoners at the Stonecutters Island will shortly be lodged in Victoria Gaol. The Island Gaol will then be disposed of.”

“In September, 1866, intimation was given that another improvement was to be introduced concerning the management of the chain gang convicts. For the future, they were to break their stones in public roads instead of in the Gaol compound. Each convict wore a badge upon which was inscribed his name and address as well as the nature of the crime for which he was convicted.”

These notes from “Dramaticus” might be amplified on the subject of executions, which were carried out in public in the colony until as late as 1895. In that year the first private execution took place, within the precincts of Victoria Gaol, the only persons present, besides the Superintendent of the Gaol, being the Captain Superintendent of Police (who afterwards became the Governor, Sir Henry May), and representatives of the Press. The case was one in which two Chinese were hanged for the murder of a Sikh police constable.

In looking up the old records we find that regular executioners were not necessarily employed, and occasionally the services of an “outsider” were obtained temporarily. An American once acted in this capacity, in the year 1849, when six pirates who had been captured by HMS Inflexible were found guilty of murder on the high seas and sentenced to death. The duty of the executioner was entrusted to an American whose brother had been killed by pirates some years previously.

In 1852, six Portuguese seamen who had committed piracy and murder on the British barque Herald, and were brought to justice and convicted, were sentenced to death, and were hanged there, the executioner being actually selected from the prisoners at the gaol. The man chosen was a coloured American, whose further term of imprisonment was remitted in return for his services.

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