The State Council, or China's cabinet, released a regulation on Thursday to protect detainees' legitimate rights and administer the country's detention centers holding people in custody for minor offences.

Two detainees read books in a detention center in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. [File photo]

In China, minor offenders such as those who disturbed public order or court order will be detained for up to 15 days.

Detention centers and the warders are prohibited from insulting, abusing and imposing physical punishments on detainees, according to the regulation.

The detention centers should inform the detainees of their legal rights and the rules they should abide by. The centers should also give timely notice to the detainees' family members.

Moreover, the regulation required the centers to organize proper physical and cultural activities for the inmates, and the inmates should be allowed of outdoor activities of no less than two hours each day.

The regulation also banned forced labor in the detention houses.

Furthermore, the detention centers are told to provide necessary drug rehabilitation treatments for the detained drug addicts.

The body frisking and administration work on female detainees should only be conducted by female police officers, according to the regulation.

The regulation will take effect from April 1.

(Xinhua contributed to this story.)