Introduction

This report is a summary of the proceedings of the Twenty First Asian and Pacific Conference (APCCA) held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, over the period 21 to 26 October 2001. The conference was attended by senior representatives of correctional services of 21 nations or territories in the Asian and Pacific region, most of whom were the Chief Executive, Commissioner or Director General responsible for corrections in each nation or territory. The conference was hosted by Mr Siwa Sangmanee, Director-General of the Department of Thailand and was officially opened by the Thailand Minister of Interior, Professor Dr Purachai Piumsomboon.

The first meeting of the APCCA was held in Hong Kong in 1980. The idea for that meeting developed from discussions between the then Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology and the then Commissioner of the Hong Kong Prison Service. Since 1980 the conference has assembled each year, apart from 1990. For most of that period the conference was assisted by the Australian Institute of Criminology but since 1993 the conference has been supported by the APCCA Coordinator in his private capacity.

After the first assembly of the conference in Hong Kong, in subsequent years the conference has assembled in Bangkok, Tokyo, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Australia (New South Wales and Victoria), India, China (Beijing), Australia (South Australia), Hong Kong, Australia (Northern Territory), Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Canada, China (Shanghai) and Australia (New South Wales). Over this period the conference has developed a significant history of traditions or conventional practices, even though it has no formal constitution or rules of procedure. For example, it has always been accepted that the host has the right to select those to be invited. Furthermore, the conference is relatively inexpensive as all the participants pay for their own air fares and accommodation.

As a matter of tradition, however, the host nation provides some hospitality as well as an appropriate venue for the formal meetings. At this conference extensive and generous support was provided by:

The Mayor of the City of Chiang Mai

Management & Training Corporation (MTC) of the United States

Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) of Australia, and

JFE Security of South Africa.

Another tradition that has developed within the framework of the APCCA is that of visiting correctional institutions, especially if they are related to the agenda items under discussion. Visits to institutions are seen as a useful complement to formal discussions and are generally greatly appreciated by participants as a practical method of exchanging ideas.

For the twenty first conference in Chiang Mai, visits were arranged to the Chiang Rai Central Prison, the Rehabilitation Program for Drug Addicts at Meng Rai, the Chiang Mai Women Correctional Institution and the Prison Products Exhibition of the Northern Region. A number of visits to places of cultural interest were also incorporated into the conference program.

During the afternoon before the formal welcome to the conference a preliminary business meeting was held to finalise a number of the organisational aspects of the conference and to receive, for later discussion, the report of the Working Party which met in Singapore in June 2001 to consider APCCA support services needed in the future. The details of these discussions are summarised under Conference Business later in this report.

A further tradition of the APCCA that was established at the first meeting in 1980 is for a summary report to be drafted while the conference is in progress. Following that practice, a draft report was circulated to all delegates on the evening before the final day of the conference. This was based on the oral presentation made by delegates and also on the written national discussion papers prepared by all participating nations and territories. This draft report will be edited and extended to create a final version in the coming weeks.