Captive audience: the Hong Kong radio man connecting prisoners with families worldwide every Sunday
Bruce Aitken gets messages through from families as far afield as Colombia and Tanzania
Prisoners in Hong Kong jails are allowed just one international phone call every two months, but every Sunday, a local radio host uses the airwaves to bypass that strict regulation.
Since 2005, New York-born Bruce Aitken has had a regular segment on his Sunday evening radio programme that sends messages directly to convicted criminals and those waiting on remand from their families.
There are Chinese-language radio programmes that also cater to prisoners, but Aitken, 70, understands that his show is the only English-language one for foreign nationals.
"It's a lifeline for them because often their families can't visit them," said Aitken, who is known as Brother Bruce on air.
"Some of the prisoners say the show is what they look forward to, that it keeps them going through the week because it breaks the monotony."
Called , the Metro show actually runs for two hours with a half-hour section called "prison visitation on the air".
The segment has become so popular that Aitken is trying to raise funds to add another 30 minutes to the show. "There's growing demand for it," said the former professional baseball player, who found God and was baptised just 15 years ago.
Prisoners write to him with requests for messages or family members will often call to send messages.
"If the prisoners write to me for calls, they usually want to hear the voice of their mother or their children," Aitken said.
He's made calls to many countries including family members in Uganda, Colombia, Suriname, South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania.
Next month, he will host his 600th show, a milestone for a programme that almost did not survive its first year when it ran into financial difficulties.
The show stays on air thanks to financial support from religious groups and a weekly mass in Kam Tin.
"Sunday night is something they religiously look forward to and I say I have a captive audience," Aitken said.
A Correctional Services Department spokesman said prisoners could buy pocket-sized radios and listen to programmes in the evening inside their dorm or cells, including on Sundays and public holidays.
