Repeatedly at the official level, information appeared about the urgent need to reform the Chinese penitentiary system. This is due to many aspects that are gradually becoming known. Uprising and strikes in Chinese prisons only confirm the "horror stories" that appear after the liberation of foreign offenders. They talk about the terrible conditions in which prisoners are kept, torture and beatings, poor nutrition, slave labor and much more. Serving a sentence (even for minor offenses) has nothing to do with re-education, but is a manifestation of the excessively punitive nature inherent in prisons in China.
Brief description of the penitentiary system in China
This country was distinguished by its severe punishment system even in the days of Ancient China, when emperors developed principles of managing people. Until the middle of the 20th century, public execution was practiced in the country, there is information that demonstration events were held at a later date. For example, there were cases when, before the sporting event, several “suicide bombers” were taken out in front of spectators, shot, their bodies removed, and a match started. The last case occurred in 2000, when, in front of many people, after high-profile cases, corrupt officials were shot.
The turning point can be called the end of 1949, when they adopted the law on Chinese prisons, entrusting the state with the responsibility to create special departments. Terrible labor discipline and cruel treatment of prisoners (the death rate of prisoners broke all unimaginable records) attracted the UN. Only in 1988, China adopted the Convention prohibiting torture. However, according to eyewitnesses who were serving their sentences in this country, torture continues.
An interview with the deputy secretary of the criminological society in China, Wang Shunan, suggests that beatings, corporal punishment, and ill-treatment of criminals are prohibited, but that prisoners plead guilty, are unable to escape, are quieter, etc.
Why you can go to jail
Russians have repeatedly ended up in a Chinese prison for violating the visa regime (for example, a work visa was issued for activities in one province, and a person worked in another), driving while intoxicated, transporting and storing drugs. They can also be deprived of their liberty for violation of law enforcement, for example, for loud songs or defiant behavior.
Capital punishment (capital punishment) applies up to 5, 000 times a year to both men and women over 18 years of age. Previously, these were executions, now criminals are given lethal injections. According to unproven data, the bodies of the executed are sold for transplantation. However, it is known for certain that since 2014, prisoners can obtain permission for the posthumous removal of organs. Such a severe punishment is applied to persons convicted of espionage and high treason, robbery, kidnapping. Corrupt officials, murderers and rapists, drug dealers, terrorists, those who illegally sell weapons and fake medicines also fall under capital punishment.
Types of prison facilities
In fact, Chinese prisons are divided into two main types. The former include places where criminals are held, who were convicted by the people's court of the country. Prison institutions of this type are female and male, for those who have committed serious crimes and of a different severity. The second type is correctional labor colonies for minors. They are also divided by gender and nature of crime.
There is no separate Chinese prison for foreigners, they are most often kept in separate cells (if possible), and the distribution after the remand prison is the same as the rest. In large cities, there are a limited number of pre-trial detention centers created according to the European model. There is a different attitude towards the prisoners, while it turns out what they are like, whether the consulate will be able to pay a mitigation of punishment or other privileges. Such a payment is by no means considered a bribe; in China, a certain system of “respect” has been established.
There are prisons (there are very few of them) where it is forbidden to work after 21:00, prisoners are even paid a small amount of labor. The "luxurious" penitentiary institutions include Yancheng, which is called the White House and the prison garden. On its territory there are beautiful lawns and football fields, cameras can be compared to three-room apartments, criminals visit the gym and eat well. Political prisoners, former party bosses are serving time in Yancheng. There is another similar Qingsheng prison, where prisoners can even order women of easy virtue into their cameras, use phones and watch movies on DVD. Photos of Chinese prisons of this type are often published on the review of the world community in order to splurge and avert reproaches for violating human standards.
The structure of the Chinese prison
An article has been included in the state budget of the country for financing prison institutions (nutrition and upkeep of prisoners, educational and training activities, expenses for prison police, utilities, etc.).
The head of the prison institution is the head (subordinate to the Ministry of Justice), deputies, the prison police, the law enforcement administration, and administrative staff.
Prison Life
Prisoners who have committed murders, rape and other serious crimes are kept separately from the rest. Criminals convicted of fraud suffer more from torture in Chinese prisons than others. The prisoners themselves are also very ill-treated. In ordinary cells, the area is not more than 17-20 m 2, about the same number of people are kept. There are also overloaded "huts", where 28 people huddle at 12 meters.
In the reviews they write that on the wooden floors in the cells there is a flooring, on it are mats with thin pillows on which prisoners sleep. There is a small compartment for washing (but not everywhere), a hole in the floor, which is a toilet. In China, there are big problems with clean water, so a strict amount of time is allocated for washing or taking a shower. Most often, it is regulated by 15 minutes, during this period it is necessary not only to perform hygienic procedures, but also to stand in line, have time to undress, get dressed. In some provinces, instead of a washstand, criminals use water to open the battery valve. All water procedures are carried out under the strict supervision of the prison police. A toilet is also given a certain time. The appearance of pardoned suicide bombers who have long been serving their life sentence is terrifying. They have long tangled hair (no combs, no haircuts either), lack of front teeth (as a result of beatings and poor nutrition), pale and almost transparent skin.
In cameras, as elsewhere, there is a hierarchy. Only a Chinese can be a “godfather”, he has helpers on duty, there is a “weaker sex” that is subjected to sexual violence. Convicted of financial fraud and rape on a bad account. You can increase authority in the cell for the ability to show and protect yourself.
How the "5 + 1 + 1" system is actually respected
It was launched in 2010, according to this system, prisoners are allocated 5 days a week for educational and labor activities, 1 day for training and 1 day for rest. It is assumed that the working day for convicts lasts 8 hours with a lunch break, and the educational process takes place in specially equipped classes. This does not apply to prisons where they contain criminals who have committed serious offenses and are awaiting execution.
There are reviews of foreigners (including Russians) about Chinese prisons, which describe a working day from 5 in the morning until late at night. The light in the cells does not turn off around the clock so that the prisoners can fulfill, but rather, overfulfill the work plan. In Chinese women's prisons, for example, they knit sweaters or decorate clothes, shoes with beads; in men's prisons they can collect seats for cars, etc. No more than 15 minutes are allowed for lunch, then work continues until a short dinner, and then work again until exhaustion. The prisoners receive a certain amount of points for their work, usually it is given in total on camera. This causes a negative attitude towards those who work poorly and cannot cope with the established norm.
Meals in most prisons are scarce, depending on the province. For example, in the southern provinces, prisoners are fed mainly with very thin porridge on rice water, and in the northern provinces, rice cakes and pastries are most often given. Lunches and dinners are mainly represented by vegetable stews with "meat" meatballs. In the reviews of unhappy tourists from the series "How I Went to Prison in China" it is written that the food has a nasty smell. Many lost 15-20 kg in weight in a few months.
Prisoners have the right to correspond with relatives no more than 1 time per month. Letters are severely censored. If they contain seditious information, for example, complaints of prisoners, such letters are not sent, but the prisoner can write a new message no earlier than a month later. Dating is very rare, but not everywhere.
Maximum security prisons
They resemble concentration camps with all the ensuing horrors, are distinguished by strict discipline. Most of them are located in the north of the country or in the northeastern provinces.
One of the largest, designed for 20, 000 criminals, is located near the city of Shenyang (in Liaoning Province). It consists of blocks that are reserved for newly arrived prisoners, two blocks for "experienced", the building of a Chinese women's prison and a hospital. It contains many followers of the banned Falun Gong sect. There are cases when many of them died in torture in this Chinese prison. The "dangerous" criminals of this penitentiary institution include well-known bloggers in China who were accused of undermining the country's political system.
Nehe has a very poor reputation - a strict regime Chinese prison, known for numerous prisoners' suicides, cases of brutal beating with a fatal outcome.
Prisoners are fed worse in such prisons; many die from exhaustion and poisoning. Such cases usually resonate in society; the Ministry of Justice conducts inspections. As a result, food conditions improve slightly for a while, then everything resumes. For the most dangerous criminals they wear leg shackles, they can be removed only for good behavior, but not for everyone.
Where do suicide bombers await their sentence?
Sentenced to capital punishment awaiting execution of a sentence in a Chinese prison in the rock. Is it true? Indeed, there is a prison carved into the rock, it is located near the city of Suifenhe. It has only one input (it is also an output). The basement, where the cells with especially dangerous criminals are located, is half filled with groundwater. Chambers for "loners" the size of a meter per meter. Prisoners can warm up only during 12-hour work, the same amount of time is allotted to "rest".
Cells in a Chinese death row are quickly released for new arrivals. The time from the sentencing to the execution of it sometimes does not exceed 7 days. In very rare cases, the "lucky" death penalty can be replaced by life imprisonment. For the procedure itself, separate rooms are used. They can fulfill the last will of the criminal. For example, before the execution, bring him a delicious dinner, female criminals often ask to be given beautiful clothes and cosmetics. Then the criminal is hung around the neck with a tablet with his name and article number, according to which he was convicted. Executions are almost everywhere replaced by injections, which are carried out in special medical vans. The convicted person is first given an anesthetic, and then poison, death occurs after 1-2 minutes. A special note is made about the fact of death, which is then brought to the people's court, which issued the decision.
The transition to an injection form of execution is associated with a lower cost of the procedure compared with the execution. But the last type of execution of sentences in some provinces still remained. In such cases, after the completion of the capital punishment, the convict’s relatives receive a bill for expenses (the so-called “bullet” bill). They resort to execution if the offender is a drug dealer, killer, rapist. For example, in the winter of 2016, a resident of Kyrgyzstan was executed and smuggled 7 kg of heroin into China.
Conditions for women criminals
The description of the Chinese prison in this case is no different from the previous ones. The most famous is located in the Shenyang prison block. Women prisoners (as well as men) are closely monitored. Most rooms are equipped with cameras and alarms, motion sensors. For any violation of the rules, an alarm is triggered, the prison police immediately enters and takes action. Sound notification can be used if the woman did not use the toilet during the conversation, speaks loudly, etc.
Meetings for women criminals are practically not provided for, with rare exceptions they are allowed to see children. Family dates in a separate room with husbands are completely excluded, probably in order to prevent pregnancy. There is no leniency towards pregnant women, they are simply sent for abortion, which is also a cost that the prison administration does not need. Pregnancy is also not a reason for the abolition of the death penalty. An abortion is performed at any time, then the sentence is carried out.
During serving time for any wrongdoing, they can deprive of food and water, sleep, make them stay in an uncomfortable position for a long time. Such an attitude in prisons is not uncommon. There are many cases when, during a sharp deterioration in the state of health, prisoners were released on large bail for medical reasons, so as not to spoil the death of the prison after death. In the wild, such unfortunate people lived no more than a year, dying from heart failure, tuberculosis and other pathologies. Before they died, they talked about terrible torture: pouring ice water on them, beating with electric batons, stretching the body with ropes.
The most incredible facts
There are many stories about Chinese prisons from eyewitnesses, mostly foreigners, who were released with wide eyes from horror.
- According to some reports, the number of executions in China is directly proportional to the number of transplant operations. Services are most often used by foreigners. Inmates before the execution begin to be given drugs that suppress the immune system, so that the organ (heart, kidneys, etc.) better engraft in the recipient's body.
- Some provinces canceled anesthesia before lethal injection. This is also an additional cost that the state does not want to go to. Therefore, before the death of the criminals, they simply bind them, insert a gag in their mouth and inject potassium cyanide.
- Starvation inmates eat rats. There are gaps in the floor of the cells, which are full of these rodents. They are caught, skinned, then soaked for several days and eaten raw.
- In Chinese penitentiaries there is no strict regime of walks. Cases were told when a ray of light fell into the closet daily for only 12 minutes. The prisoners took turns standing under him. By the way, in the form of compensation for the absence of walks, criminals are given vitamin D.
- Each prisoner has a special account in which he can keep money. To transfer funds can relatives and friends of the convict.
- There are cases when the time spent in the pre-trial detention center was about four years (from the moment the crime was committed to the court session).
- In China, unlike Russia, not only drug dealers and drug manufacturers, but also drug addicts themselves are imprisoned.
- Prisoners in the presence of the prison police should lower their heads and look at their feet. Before distributing rice in some camps, prisoners stand on one knee, lower their heads, and hold an empty bowl in their outstretched hands.
