December 8, 1941: Hong Kong woke up to Japanese invasion after an air-raid siren at 11 pm.

December 11: The British Army retreated to Hong Kong Island and fought over the harbor till it surrendered on Christmas day.

Those moments of history were recorded by a Victoria Prison warden in the night journal as the war raged.

Later this month, the logbook -- already sepia -- will be exhibited for the public for the first time as part of the charity activities to mark the decommissioning of Victoria Prison which had been the centre of Hong Kong's prison system in the old days.

Most of the prisons and the adjacent Central Police Station and former Central Magistracy will be preserved and redeveloped into a heritage tourism attraction. The government is yet to issue the tender document.

The prison will be open to the public on March 11, 18 and 19 and an entry fee of HK$20 will be donated to the Community Chest. On display will also be a crank that had been used to keep inmates' hands busy, the cat-o'-nine tails, a model execution chamber and other corporal devices.

A farewell parade will be held on March 12 and Jailhouse Rock party nights on March 17 and 18. To join the party night, HK$68,000 will be charged for a group of 10 wardens and 50 inmates tickets. Participants will dress up as wardens or inmates.

"The prison, together with the former Central Magistracy and Central Police Station was the centre of justice and law enforcement of the colony in the early days," Commissioner for Correctional Services, Pang Sung-yuen, said yesterday.

The British during those days placed the prison, court and police station together. Pang said, that from the historical point of view, the prison was the cradle of the city's justice and enforcement systems.

First jail

Built in 1841, the prison was not only Hong Kong's first jail but also its first Victoria-style building. During World War II, most of the structures within the compound were damaged by bombings.

Restored after the war, Victoria Prison was re-opened in 1946. According to the night journal, it was on June 26, 1946 that the wardens began marking down activities inside the prison again.

Lau Chun-ming, who retired from Correctional Services Department as a principal officer in 2003, began his career at Victoria Prison.

"It was in 1970 that I left school and joined the department as a junior. When I was told of the posting, I was totally unprepared for the strict discipline and cleanliness that I saw here," Lau said.

"All the inmates including the juveniles, adults, were disciplined," he told China Daily.

While security is a common concern for all prisons, particular emphasis was given in this regard at Victoria Prison because of the civilian housings nearby. "We used to check the prisoners, cells and walls regularly. Everyone of us was aware of the grave consequences in case of a jailbreak. So we made sure this wouldn't happen," Lau said.

Apparently, people living next to the prison have got used to it. Andrew To, a secondary five student living across the street, said he was used to seeing people of all ages enter the "blue gate" to visit the inmates.

He, however, was happy that the prison would be turned into a heritage site. "I think most of the people here are happy and the locality will attain a special status after the prison is turned into a heritage site," To said.

A group of historians and architects backed by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation had earlier put forth a plan to turn the cluster of Victoria Prison, Central Police Station and Central Magistracy into a massive cultural complex. Ho and four other wealthy families decided to donate HK$500 million if the government accepted the cultural complex plan.

(China Daily March 3, 2006)