The death of an inmate in a detention house in Beijing's Haidian district after a 49-day hunger strike has triggered speculation once again about police power abuse inside detention centers.

Qi Changjiang, a 30-year-old man from Qianshan county of Anhui province, died in No 261 hospital in Beijing in the early morning of Sept 17. His diagnosis read: "Heartbeat suddenly stopped 49 days without eating caused the death".

According to police, Qi had been refusing to eat since he was put into the detention house in Haidian district on July 26 for selling fake receipts in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing.

This is not the first time deaths in detention houses have caused doubts and attention. In February, 24-year-old Li Qiaoming was beaten to death in a detention house in Yunnan province with authorities blaming his death on an accident during a game of hide and seek.

On March 8, Xu Gengrong, a 19-year-old student, died on the seventh day of his detention in Shaanxi province on suspicion of stoning a schoolmate to death. An autopsy report later showed he died from several injuries.

Police said they don't know why Qi didn't eat. They sent Qi for treatment on Aug 19 to Yangfangdian hospital as his health was deteriorating after almost 20 days of not eating anything except an occasional soymilk or congee.

In the early hours of Sept 17, Qi was sent to No 261 hospital for emergency treatment, and he died an hour later at about 4:30 am.

A doctor from the hospital who refused to give his name told China Daily that a patient from the prison had died that morning, but that he was registered as "a man with no name".

Although police claim they had nothing to do with Qi's decision to not eat, Qi's family is not convinced.

Qi and his wife, Zhu Zufen, are parents of a son and a daughter. They had been working in different places in the Zhongguancun area until July 26 when Zhu was told that her husband was arrested.

Zhu saw Qi taken away by the police with a black cover on his head, and didn't see him again until Sept 17, after she received a call from Qi's brother telling her that Qi died in hospital.

Zhu said she went to the detention center several times asking to meet her husband, but was refused every time with officials telling her, "there's no such man here".

Zhu said she cannot believe her husband would stop eating for no reason, and the police should have informed her when her husband was in hospital for emergency treatment.

"The police said they tried to persuade him to eat. Why didn't they tell me that?" Zhu said. "He would have listened to me and would not have died.

"He was a healthy and strong man who didn't even go to hospital for small diseases," Zhu said.

Haidian police said Qi had refused to talk to anyone since he was detained. Police said they tried to persuade him to talk several times, but made no progress.

The police also said Qi not only stopping eating and talking, but also refused to be treated by doctors, yelling at them and pulling transfusion needles from his arm.

"We didn't know he had a wife. We found his brother by tracking his identification card and informed him of his death," said a police officer.

Qi's brother's phone was off yesterday and he could not be reached for comment.

He Weifang, a law professor with Peking University, said a forensic autopsy needs to be done to find out the real reason of Qi's death, and the results must be made public.

Legal experts are also calling for a separation of detention houses from police authorities to prevent abuse and further public speculation.

"Detention houses are supposed to be neutral ground where defendants are held pending the outcome of prosecutions," said Chen Ruihua, a professor at Peking University.

"Yet detention centers have become a place controlled by the police as part of their turf and the most profitable piece of their territory, as suspects who face pressures in interrogation often pay bribes," Chen said. "They also often implicate others in their wrongdoings in hope of shortening the jail terms."

Hong Daode, a professor with China University of Political Science and Law, said the non-separation of investigation departments and detention houses, which both belong to public security departments, is the key problem.

The detention houses should be separated from public security departments, and managed by a judicial administrative body, Hong said.

According to the Supreme People's Court, in the first half of this year, prosecutors have charged 291 people and found 6,430 violations in the management of detention and prison facilities, a 114-percent jump compared to last year.