One-stop Approach for Law and Order

One-stop Approach for Law and Order

Duration

30 MINS

Checkpoint

8 Checkpoints

Introduction

Encompassing a police station, magistracy and prison, the Central Police Station Compound provided an enclosed network of law enforcement, judicial and prison services. This route takes you back to the 1950s, allowing you to experience the process from detention to trial, then conviction and imprisonment from the perspective of a prisoner in the past.

7 Checkpoints
30 Minutes


4-1 Charge Room

Outside the block

Wong Keung’s story

The Central Police Station Compound was not originally designed as a police station. The first building constructed on the site was in fact a Magistrate’s House with jail blocks. In the two decades that followed, the site has undergone changes and expansion. It was not until the 1860s, that the continual changes led to the site being formed as a one-stop shop for law and order, where a person could be charged, put on trial, and imprisoned at a single location.

To give you a sense of what it was like to arrive here as a suspected criminal, we’d like to introduce you to Wong Keung.

We’ve changed his name as he has served his sentence - but Wong Keung will tell you his story of being charged, tried and locked up here back in the 1950s.

You are charged with…

Hi, I’m Wong Keung. I’m a criminal – or at least I once was.  Not a bad one, I never hurt anyone, but I did break the law. I was only 20, a stupid kid and I stole some stuff from a market stall.  I thought I could make some extra money for my family. 

But I was caught, and brought here. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to expect.

First they took me here to the Charge Room. In Hong Kong, the police can’t hold you without a charge, but I didn’t know that then.

The Duty Officer was a tough guy with a mean face and a shaved head. He was standing behind a high desk so you had to look up at him. It kind of made you feel very small which I guess was the point. There was a picture of the Queen behind him. She looked quite kind. And there was a big fan overhead.

He told me I was charged with stealing.

They took away all my personal stuff and put it in a bag.

Then they took me to a holding cell and shut the gate. Clang! I felt so awful.

I knew how ashamed my mum must be. God, what a mess.


4-2 Holding Cell

Outside the block

Hold on …

I was in the cell for ages. There were a few other men there. We all sat on stone benches along the wall. Nobody said much.

They told me I was to stay here before going for a trial before the judge. It got me really nervous. I have never met a judge before. What if he asks me questions which I don’t know? Will I be put into jail?

There was an open squat toilet to pee in. But I felt too embarrassed to do it in front of everyone. In the evening they brought us some food on a tin plate.

They said it was chicken and rice, but I think the chicken must have escaped. I wish I could.

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

The next day, a couple of guards came and yelled my name.

“WONG!”

There were two other Wongs. What if they mixed me up with a murderer?

They marched us off to another building, and another cell in the basement.


4-3 Central Magistracy Holding Cell

An Uncertain Future
The cell was dark, despite there was a round window with iron bars. There were around 10 other people there. A pretty mixed bunch. There was one guy in a suit. No idea what he had done.

Finally my turn came. I was led up some steep narrow stairs right next to the cell and I found myself standing inside a dock surrounded by wooden fences. I was told to stand up straight and be quiet


4-4 Magistracy

Step this way

The cell was dark, despite there was a round window with iron bars. There were around 10 other people there. A pretty mixed bunch. There was one guy in a suit. No idea what he had done.

Finally my turn came. I was led up some steep narrow stairs right next to the cell and I found myself standing inside a defendant’s dock surrounded by wooden fences. I was told to stand up straight and be quiet.

There were big fans in the ceiling. And tables with guys in dark jackets. The man they called “Magistrate” sat on a high chair under another picture of the Queen. They must have hundreds of these pictures.

A court clerk said,

“Are you Wong Keung…?”

I didn’t say anything … I was being quiet. She asked me again…. and a policemen told me to answer.  “Yes, I am.” My throat was so dry. I could hardly say a word.

Guilty or not guilty

The Court Clerk read out the charges against me.

“You are charged with stealing articles in the Central Market. How do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?”

“Guilty.” I thought, this is it … now, I’ve had it.

The Magistrate asked me if I had anything to say in mitigation. I told him I just wanted to make a little money for my family. My mum hadn’t been well for a while. This was true.

I thought he would be mad at me, but actually all he said was.

“I understand.”

He asked the clerk what the sentence was in cases like this and the Clerk said,

“30 days.”


4-5 Prison main entrance

Nightmare Hotel

I was taken from the court to the main prison. It was not far away, in fact, just a few steps away from the court building. It was pretty grim. I started to image the rows of barred doors and the echoes along the corridor. I was led through a light well area, I felt like that was the last time I could see the sky.


4-6 Fingerprinting Office

Who am I?

I was brought across a big yard to another building. There were some other people in the yard staring at me.

When I was charged, they took down all my details.

But now I was in the actual prison, they took my picture and my fingerprints. And a bunch of other details. They’d already taken away all my stuff, now they took my name as well.

In return, they gave me a number, and an ID card.  I wasn’t Wong Keung any more. I wasn’t me. I was just a number 1438. I was a thing. Like the bucket in my cell. Or my plate and spoon.

Follow the rules … or else

They also told us the rules. What to do. What not to. How to address the guards if we wanted anything, or if we felt sick. When to sleep. When to eat.

We got our hair cut. Almost down to the bone. And got a body check… rashes, bugs, fleas, lice.

Now I was nothing. A nobody. Worse than that. I cursed myself over and over for taking that stuff. And I was scared.  I kept wiping my eyes. Tried to hide my tears.

I didn’t know if I could even survive in this place.


4-7 Imprisoned

Locked up

My cell number was 21. It was so small. There were two other guys there already, and they weren’t happy to see me.

I got the top bunk – the hottest one. There was a tiny triangular table in the corner. And two buckets. One for washing and one for, well, you know what.

Wake up! Wake up!

Every morning, we had to get up at dawn. We argued about who could wash in the bucket first. I was always last. Wash, hold your nose, and went to another block to empty the buckets - eew!

Then there was a prisoner check. The guards would inspect every cell to make sure no one had escaped during the night… I wish I had. Then we had breakfast, sometimes with fish, vegetables and potatoes. It was a time when I thought life wasn’t that bad.

Each day we got to go into the yard and do some exercise. The rest of the time we had to do works like cleaning and laundry. That was good to kill time here within the wall.

I was particularly careful not to break any prison rules, or else you could be put on rice and water for up to week.

Getting out

The days passed. One by one. I counted the hours. The seconds. All I wanted was to get out. I longed to get home. See my mum. And my crazy sister. I missed them so much.

When my last day came. I was terrified I would do something wrong, or they would change their mind. My cell-mates were still there. We never became friends, but somehow we got along. I still don’t know what they had done.

I got my bag of stuff back and changed into my old clothes.

When I walked out, I was so relieved. The nightmare was over.

Disclaimer

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious.