Built in 1937, Stanley Prison is currently the oldest institution still in service (the oldest prison built in Hong Kong was
Victoria Prison, which ceased operation on 24 December 2005) and houses both male adult
convicted prisoners and male adult remand prisoners. It was set up by the then Prisons Department, and is now administered by the
Correctional Services Department. The maximum capacity of the prison is 1,511 and it has over 800 staff and officers. Stanley Prison, at the time of its construction, was considered to be one of the finest prisons in the British Empire. It was a modern structure built of stone, concrete and steel and consisted of six cell blocks set behind an 18-foot wall. It was originally designed to house 1,500 prisoners. Before Hong Kong officially abolished the
death penalty in 1993, Stanley Prison had been a place of execution between 1946 and 1966. Although the law did not change until 1993, the last execution that was carried out in Stanley Prison was in November 1966. 122 people were executed in Stanley Prison until then, however, this figure does not include the large number of prisoners who were killed by the Japanese during the occupation of Hong Kong in World War II—see below. The area which once housed the gallows has now been replaced with the prison hospital. ==Japanese occupation==