Local Conditions Cited as Reason for Rise; Staff Increases; Many Released Prisoners Rearrested Shanghai, Feb, 2 DEZERIORATING conditions in. Shanghai are cited as a reason for the huge increase in the number of prisoners at present serving sentences in Ward Road Gaol, according to the annual report for 1939 of the Gaol Branch of the Shanghai Municipal Police.
On December 31 the grand total was 8,517, which exceeded by 1,231 the previous highest total which was reached on July 29, 1932. The work of the various sections of the Gaol is summarized as follows:
During the past year a total of eleven foreign, fifteen Indian and twenty-Chinese were recruited locally for the gaol branch, During the course of the year, the report states, the total population, including the Foreign Section and the Reformatory, increased from 6,562 on January 1 to 8,420 on December 31, an increase of 1,858.
The grand total on December 18 was 8,517, which figure exceeds the previous highest total number of prison ers incarcerated in the Shanghai Municipal Gaol, which was 7,286 on July 29, 1932, by a total of 1,231 prisoners, The increase is attributed deteriorating conditions that have been prevailing in and around Shanghai during the past twelve months, It appears probable that the total will show further Increases during the coming year. All classes of crime, with the exception of opium smoking and narcotic cases, which have remained steady throughout the year, show a steady increase, and particularly armed crime.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.