Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have jointly launched a guide to managing corruption risks in prisons at a United Nations crime-prevention congress in Abu Dhabi.
Prepared over more than a year, the guide is based on international standards and uses a flexible framework. Its coverage stretches across the daily machinery of prison management, including recruitment and staff training, procurement, financial controls, reporting mechanisms, oversight investigations, intelligence gathering and prison technology.
Y M Woo, the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s commissioner, said prisons were the justice system’s last line of defence. He said corruption could threaten the safety of staff and prisoners, affect prisoners’ willingness to rehabilitate and weaken social stability.
His more than 30 years of work in corrections led him to accept the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s invitation for the commission to coordinate the project.
The commission plans to work with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime from next year on international training courses for prison management personnel and anti-corruption enforcement bodies worldwide. The courses are intended to provide practical training and share Hong Kong’s experience in preventing corruption and managing prisons.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s executive director thanked the commission and its supporting partners, and urged member states to adopt the guide’s recommendations.