Court of First Instance grants leave for judicial review over ban on female prisoners and remands from wearing shorts in summer
Within a day of the applicant filing her judicial review challenging the Correctional Services Department (“CSD”) for banning female prisoners and remands from wearing shorts in summer, Coleman J granted leave to apply for judicial review on papers in Chung Suet Ying v Commissioner of Correctional Services (HCAL 1094/2021). Jeffrey Tam, Andrew Lau and Yvonne Leung act for the successful applicant.
The applicant, Ms. Chung Suet Ying, has been remanded at the Lo Wu Correctional Institution since October 2020.
On or about 3 May 2021, the Commissioner issued an order that the required clothing for prisoners and remands be changed from winter clothing to summer clothing. Male prisoners and remands are allowed to wear shorts, but female prisoners and remands can only wear long trousers (being the exact same type worn in winter) (“Decision”). Furthermore, it is the standing order or the policy of the Commissioner that female prisoners and remands shall wear as part of their summer clothing the same long trousers as in winter (“Policy”).
After the Commissioner made the Decision, the applicant also made repeated requests to the CSD to provider her with shorts after the change of season, but to no avail (“Refusal Decisions”). As a result, the applicant suffered from various health conditions, such as miliaria.
The applicant lodged her application for judicial review on 4 August 2021 challenging the Decision, the Policy and/or the Refusal Decisions for being unlawful and unconstitutional.
On 5 August 2021, Coleman J granted leave to apply for judicial review on papers. Reasons for the decision and costs order will be given later.
This case has been widely covered in the local press including:
• (in English) SCMP, The Standard;
• (in Chinese) Hong Kong Economic Times, Ming Pao, RTHK News, and Stand News.
Representation:
Jeffrey Tam, Andrew Lau and Yvonne Leung, instructed by Messrs. Ho Tse Wai & Partners, act for the applicant.
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Jeffrey Tam
Since being called in 2009, Jeffrey has established a solid practice in public law, having been involved in a number of landmark judicial review cases. Recently, Jeffrey (with Abigail Liu) successfully resisted an election petition in Tung Kin Lei v Ng Ting Lam Kundama & Others HCAL 245/2020; [2021] HKCFI 514, where the Court interpreted section 51 of the District Councils Ordinance (Cap. 547) for the first time. Jeffrey is also experienced in a broad range of civil work with an emphasis on land, probate, company and commercial law. He regularly represents both landlords and squatters in adverse possession cases. In terms of commercial cases, Jeffrey is frequently involved in shareholders’ disputes as well as securities and finance cases. |
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Andrew Lau
Andrew is a Charles Ching Scholar who joined Chambers in 2018. His experience encompasses a broad range of areas such as commercial disputes, company/insolvency, construction, equity/trusts, probate, personal injuries and public law. Andrew’s notable cases include Lau Siu Lai v Kwok Wai Fun, Franco (Returning Officer for the Kowloon West Geographical Constituency) and Another [2020] HKCFA 31 (Court of Final Appeal refuses leave to appeal in election petition), and 陳基裘 v. 香港政府警務處 [2020] HKCFI 2882 and Yeung Tsz Chun v. Commissioner of Police [2020] HKCFI 2882 (police failure to display unique identification and lack of independent police complaints mechanism violate Hong Kong Bill of Rights) (both with Jeffrey Tam). Court work aside, Andrew teaches administrative law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and media law at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
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