Two former Correctional Services Officers were convicted of fraudulently submitting samples of their own urine, claiming them to be samples from ex-convicts on drug rehabilitation. Deputy Magistrate Allan Wyeth rejected the defendants' argument that their misconduct was committed under instruction, so as to present a false picture of the rehabilitation rate. The judge said there is no evidence of an "unofficial practice" tolerated by superintendents in the Correctional Services Department, such as the defendants had claimed.

"The defendants were acting in their own benefit, trying to shorten the commuting time spent on visiting the ex-inmates," said Wyeth.

"It is also possible that the two defendants felt frustrated with the high relapse rate of the ex-convicts and thus decided to just fake the numbers to make do," continued the judge.

The judge also said he believed some other officers probably were involved in similar practices. Though it was certain that not all officers were engaged in the misconduct, it was still unknown, yet, how many were involved, added the judge.

The court, earlier, was told that the number of relapses among former inmates increased to 155 for the first four months of 2010, while 2008 and 2009 saw only 55 and 17 cases. The judge noted that the increase was believed to have resulted from several causes, rather than the abandonment of the so-called "unofficial practice" as charged by the two defendants.

The two accused - Tang Kwai-man, 49, and Leung Siu-wing, 54 - had served at Hei Ling Chau Addiction Treatment Centre. The two former guards were found not only to have been swapping urine samples, but filling in false information on visitation reports or missing visits to former inmates entirely. Both pleaded guilty on August 20. Earlier they had told the court, they falsified the test results, because once an ex-convict was recalled after evidence showed him to be taking drugs or to have committed crimes, the case would be classified as a failure on the part of the center.

Sentencing was adjourned until next Friday. The two were released on bail. The judge said he understood that the case has been hanging over the defendants for more than two years, since the evidence came to light. He added, however, that he needs time to consider the sentence.

Following the judgment, Tang Ping-ming, assistant commissioner of Rehabilitation of the Correctional Services Department, said the court's decision upheld justice for the department, saying the accusations of widespread malpractice leveled by the two defendants, were "unreasonable".

In response to the judge's remark that some other officers probably were engaged in similar misconduct, Tang said, "The department will refer the case to relevant law enforcement units to follow up, since the misconducts were serious and it would not be appropriate for the department to launch an internal investigation."

Tang stressed that there was no perfect security to ensure there were no mistakes, however, new procedures, which have been in practice for more than a year have proven effective, including a security bottle cap with a collar attachment. "The special design of the cap of the bottle for collecting the urine samples and the unique computer bar code on the bottle have worked well," added Tang.

Tang said the department will invite the Independent Commission Against Corruption to assist the overall review of its security mechanism.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 09/28/2012 page1)