As a coalition of 52 civil society organizations committed to human rights and the rule of law, we write collectively to urgently raise serious concerns regarding the systemic abuses occurring inside Hong Kong’s prisons, as detailed in the recent report by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation, “We Were Made to Suffer: Systemic Abuse and Political Control Inside Hong Kong’s Prisons” (September 2025).
The report documents harrowing violations such as prolonged and punitive solitary confinement far beyond internationally accepted limits; arbitrary and excessive use of solitary confinement and isolation to punish political prisoners; systemic physical, sexual, and psychological abuse tolerated by prison officials; chronic medical neglect resulting in severe deterioration and preventable deaths; widespread degradation of prison infrastructure and hygiene; and weaponization of psychiatric detention against dissidents. More than 700 political prisoners, including prominent human rights defenders, journalists, and pro-democracy activists such as Jimmy Lai, Leung Kwok-hung, Chow Hang-tung, and Joshua Wong, remain subject to extended isolation, communication censorship, and forced indoctrination through state-run “deradicalization” programs as they languish in jail.
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