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China has criminals do productive and socially beneficial work,
which is the main meaning of combining punishment and reform. China's
experience in reforming criminals has shown that this measure is
very effective.
It is especially important for criminals to engage in productive
and socially beneficial labour. Firstly, productive labour helps
criminals realize that social wealth does not come easily, fosters
a love for work and helps them become accustomed to it, instills
the idea of "no work, no food" in their minds, and helps them overcome
bad habits such as sloth, aversion to work and hedonism. At the
same time, working gives them a sense of social responsibility and
law abiding spirit in addition to improving self-discipline. Secondly,
having prisoners engage in an appropriate form of labour enables
them to stay physically fit, which helps to ward off depression,
listlessness, demoralization and even thoughts of escape, suicide
or further criminal activity, ideas which spring from the monotony
of prison life over many years. Thirdly, productive labour enables
prisoners to acquire productive skills and knowledge which make
it possible for them to earn a living when they have served their
sentence. This makes it unlikely they will return to crime because
of lingering bad habits or lack of job skills. Fourthly, having
the prisoners engage in labour in a situation and format similar
to those of normal society helps to instill the habit of working
and cooperating with others in an organization in society. This
enables them to adapt to a normal social environment as quickly
as possible when they are returned to society.
Using forced labour as a means to reform criminals is a common
practice in many countries of the world. Explicit conditions have
been stipulated in the laws of many countries and in UN documents
concerning forcing criminals to engage in labour.
China's law stipulates that all criminals who are able to work
must participate in work activities. Those who are found to be unable
to work by a doctor's examination or those who are old, infirm,
disabled or otherwise unfit for work do not participate. According
to statistics, about 10% of the prison population did not participate
in labour in 1990. The Chinese Government opposes the use of labour
as a means of punishing criminals, as well as the use of heavy labour
as a means to maltreat prisoners.
China faithfully practices the use of forced labour as a reform
method rather than as a method for punishment.
--- China has formulated a series of laws and decrees relating
to putting prisoners to work in productive labour. Prisoners enjoy
the same benefits as employees of state enterprises in terms of
work hours, holidays, supply of food and edible oil, and occupational
safety and health care.
--- Education is used to gradually change the prisoners' attitudes
to the work activity from forced labour to conscientious work. When
they first arrive, some criminals are not in the habit of working,
or look down on work, so at first they must be more or less forced
to engage in productive labour. The reform-through-labour institutions
of China do not resort to crude methods of force to solve this problem.
Instead, prisoners are subjected to continual education to teach
them the importance of taking part in productive labour and to help
them realize that an aversion to labour is shameful. From the beginning,
they are given work which is within their ability to reform so that
they gradually come to understand the meaning of work and develop
an interest in it so that they eventually come to participate in
reform through labour of their own free will. Take the last Emperor
of China's Qing Dynasty Aisin Giorro Pu Yi as an example. When he
first arrived at a Chinese prison, he was attended by people who
put on and took off his clothes, including his socks, for him. Eventually,
he began to willingly participate in work activities thanks to the
patient education and careful arrangements found in Chinese prisons.
He said he believed that the work activities played a major role
in changing him from a criminal into a person who was beneficial
to society.
--- In Chinese reform-through-labour institutions, a prisoner who
is unable to work is exempted from productive labour. Prison staff
are assigned to determine the prisoner's state of health so work
can be found which the prisoner is physically able to do. Female
criminals perform work which is in conformity with women's physical
and psychological traits. Juvenile deliquents only work to learn
skills, following a half-work and half-study schedule.
--- Civilized and safe working conditions are provided for prisoners
engaging in reform through labour. In the area of occupational safety
and health care, every reform-through-labour institution has a set
of specific safety regulations and necessary safety measures plus
special safety personnel who constantly monitor safety conditions
and conduct inspections. There are explicit regulations relating
to conditions in prisons and reform-through-labour institutions
in terms of safety, hygiene, ventilation, light, etc.. Reform-through-labour
institutions in China are judged in part by how well they conform
to these regulations.
--- China insists that criminals be allowed to study and improve
their production skills to make the prisoner look at the world in
a new light and enable the reformed criminal to contribute to the
modernization programme. One major way of judging a reform-through-labour
institution is how successful it is in helping criminals learn and
improve their production skills. This has played an important role
in enabling reformed criminals to quickly become employed, keep
their minds on their work and avoid going back.
--- Chinese reform-through-labour institutions encourage criminals
who have special skills to contribute to society. In China, there
have been a considerable number of criminals who became skilled
workers or even key personnel in production through the assistance
of administrative departments. Some have even become inventors and
artists. One criminal named Mao in the First Prison of Hebei Province
has made three major inventions and holds Chinese patent rights
for them, winning public approval and a reduced sentence for himself
in accordance with the law.
Over the past forty years, China has gained a great deal of valuable
experience in reforming criminals through labour. Many prisoners
have rid themselves of their bad habits through reform through labour,
formulated a better outlook on life and learned to respect other
people and society, and now maintain self-discipline and abide by
the law. Many have had their sentence reduced or been released on
parole for outstanding behaviour during the reform-through-labour
process. Some who have returned to society after serving their sentence
have become key production personnel, engineers, factory directors
and managers. A few have even become "advanced producers" or "model
workers". China's success in reforming criminals through labour
has been justly praised by respected personages of great vision
in the international community.
In China, products are produced by prison labour mainly to meet
needs occurring within the reform-through-labour system. Only a
small proportion of such products enter the domestic market through
normal channels. Profit from reform- through-labour work activities
is mainly used for improving the prisoners' living conditions, upgrading
their common living areas and facilities and maintaining production.
This has played a positive role in reducing the burden on the state
and the people. There are two kinds of production in the reform-
through-labour system: one is that carried out by the prisoners
themselves; and the other is that carried out by the workers and
their dependents in the reform-through-labour institutions. These
two kinds of production are totally different in nature and should
not be confused. According to statistics, the annual output value
of prison labour in the reform-through-labour system for 1990 was
only 2.5 billion yuan, which is about 0.08 per cent of the nation's
total industrial and agricultural production output value for the
year. In recent years some people in the West have been claiming
that "China's prison products constitute the pillar of the Chinese
national economy." Nothing could be further from the truth.
China prohibits export of products made with prison labour. No
competent Chinese authorities has ever given any reform-through-labour
unit the right to export commodities. On October 10, 1991, the Ministry
of Economic Relations and Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Justice
jointly issued a circular entitled "Reissue of Regulations Prohibiting
the Export of Products Made in a Reform-through-labour Programme".
The Chinese Government is very strict on this point and any violations
of these regulations are dealt with severely.
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