A Hong Kong inmate has become the first in the city to earn a local doctoral degree behind bars, studying part-time for eight years in the maximum security Stanley Prison.
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At the same time, correctional authorities have expanded a full-time study arrangement for adult inmates to cover associate degrees.
Chun*, who has been in prison for more than 24 years, said he hoped his achievement in earning his doctoral degree in education could encourage other inmates not to lose hope.
“There’s no need for them to give up on themselves while stuck in prison, and that things will be fine if they keep going,” the 51-year-old said after his graduation ceremony in Stanley Prison on Wednesday.
In his dissertation acknowledgements, he wrote: “[If] I can, so can you.”
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Chun said he went to jail in his twenties and had a Form Four education, but began studying part-time alongside his prison duties, finishing his Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) in 2000.