Guards at the prison where Jimmy Lai is being held have reportedly held rehearsals to prepare for the possible event of his death. A September 15 report by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHKF) stated that the 78-year-old Lai is confined to a windowless cell and spends roughly 23 hours a day without human contact.
Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai, told the Catholic Herald that his family was “extremely worried” about their father, who is set to spend his 79th birthday in prison.
“This will be his seventh birthday behind bars while his health continues to deteriorate. We hope the authorities do the only just and honourable thing here and release our father back to his family,” she said.
Jimmy Lai, a Catholic British citizen who ran the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, has been “held in near-total isolation since December 2020”. In 2026, he was sentenced to 20 years in a maximum-security prison, and suffers from a number of health problems including diabetes and heart issues, in what has been described as effectively a life sentence.
CFHKF reported that authorities “refuse to allow independent medical examinations” despite the seriousness of his health conditions. The report noted that Lai’s health had “deteriorated sharply” whilst in custody. “Credible sources say prison guards have even rehearsed procedures for the possibility that he dies in custody,” it said.
It also noted that a medical report submitted in court was heavily redacted, and that periodic medical reports previously provided to Lai’s family stopped after they spoke publicly about his decline.
“Lai is held in Stanley Prison, a maximum-security facility that housed 2,169 people against a design capacity of 1,511 as of March 31, 2026 – 143 per cent occupancy. According to family accounts and corroborated prison sources, Lai is confined to a windowless cell on an otherwise empty floor of the prison, relying on light from the corridor to read and spending roughly 23 hours a day without human contact,” the report read.
“He is allowed about 50 minutes of daily exercise in a 16-by-30-foot caged enclosure. When he is moved throughout the prison, guards clear surrounding areas and erect tarps. Even the visiting hall is emptied during family visits to prevent others from seeing him.”
As a practising Catholic, Lai has also been repeatedly denied Holy Communion and regular pastoral care. Rather than allowing independent medical and pastoral access, CFHKF reported that the government stated instead that he receives “appropriate care”.
The report read: “Hong Kong’s prisons are no longer simply places of punishment. They have become instruments of political control and intimidation.
“At the Trump-Xi summit in September 2026, Lai’s case should be a threshold test for any serious understanding with Beijing. Democracies should demand the release of Hong Kong’s political prisoners, independent access to its prisons, and accountability for torture, deaths in custody, and abuses committed in the name of ‘national security.’”
US President Donald Trump had been asked in May about the issue of Lai’s imprisonment ahead of his previous meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. After the state visit, Trump said that he had raised the issue, but he “did not feel optimistic” about Lai’s release.
The report stated that Hong Kong’s prison population reached 11,101 as of June 30, 2026, its highest level in 20 years, with at least seven major facilities operating above design capacity. In 2024, 5,303 disciplinary cases, a record number, resulted in solitary confinement of up to 28 days.
Another 879 prisoners were placed in what the government called “non-punitive” isolation, or “removal from association,” with nearly 42 per cent held for longer than a month. Solitary confinement is defined in the Mandela Rules, the United Nation’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, as 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. The rules prohibit it beyond 15 consecutive days.
