Hong Kong pro-democracy figures under arrest for taking part in unofficial primary elections last year are coping with life behind bars by plunging into books and newspapers, according to their friends and colleagues.

One detainee, Jimmy Sham, who organized mass rallies during the 2019 anti-extradition bill protests, has received a copy of “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison” by French philosopher Michel Foucault and plans to read it soon.

Author Tang Siu-wa, who gave the book to Sham in Lai Chi Kok detention center during her visit on Monday, said Sham has immersed himself in reading books and writing letters to his friends.

During his short periods of exercise in an open area, the activist looks at the sunset and wonders if people outside the detention center are looking at the sun and thinking of him, Tang said.

Sham is among the 47 democratic politicians and activists who have been charged with conspiring to subvert state power, a new offence under the national security law, by participating in last year’s primary elections leading up to the legislative election. Most have been denied bail and are being held in custody.

Another prisoner, local-level organizer Ventus Lau, has been “devouring every bit” of the newspapers he has in custody, according to his girlfriend Emilia, who visited Lau with Sha Tin District Councilor Chan Wan-tung on Monday.

Yuen Long District Councilor Henry Wong has been spending his time with novels while following the latest developments in the continuing court hearings involving other activists, according to fellow councilors Mo Kai-hong and Chan Sze-nga.

Colleagues of former legislator Jeremy Tam on Sunday released an audio recording made by Tam on February 28, when he was about to report to a police station. Tam, who now runs a restaurant, was ordered to be remanded in custody last week after a court revoked his previous bail.

In the recording, Tam acknowledged that he might be detained over the national security charge he was facing, adding that his colleagues would keep his restaurant running in case he landed in custody.

“Don’t worry about me. I will cope with life behind bars. I will come out to deliver food to you all soon,” Tam said at the end of the clip.

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