The Prison Law of the People's Republic of China was adopted and
went into force on December 20, 1994 at the 11th meeting of the
Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress.
Regulatory Authorities
The Prison Law provides that the State Council judicial
administration (Ministry of Justice) supervises all prisons across
the country. The Ministry of Justice has a Bureau of Prison
Administration that supervises all prisons in the country. In the
provinces (municipalities directly under the central government and
autonomous regions), offices of justice are responsible for
managing prisons in their own jurisdiction through their prison
administration arms.
Prisons in China are divided into two categories:
- Prisons incarcerating inmates who have been condemned by courts
to a fixed-term sentence, life sentence or death penalty with two
years reprieve. Male and female inmates are warded separately, with
female wards managed by female law enforcement personnel. Prisons
may also be divided into wards for felons and criminals of
misdemeanor.
- Penitentiaries for juvenile delinquents, criminals of minor age
who have been condemned by courts to a fixed-term sentence, life
sentence or death penalty with two years reprieve. Special
protection is extended to juvenile delinquents, with customized
procedures in place to cater to their needs.
Prison Setup and Staffing
The Prison Law provides that the State Council judicial
administration approves the establishment, elimination and
relocation of prisons in line with historical, economic and natural
factors. This provision is designed to optimize the distribution of
prisons and ensure the unified, effective and accurate execution of
penalties.
Prisons usually have one warden and several deputy wardens and
various administrative departments and staff. In addition to
administrative offices and commercial institutions, prisons also
have sanitary and education facilities.
The Prison Law provides that the managerial personnel of prisons
are members of the police force who enjoy the same legal status as
public security and traffic police.
Financial System of Prisons
The Prison Law states that the state ensures funding for prisons in
reforming inmates. Expenses related to prison police, reformation
of prisoners, daily life of inmates, maintenance of prison
facilities and other items are budgeted for in the central
government's planning. The state provides production facilities and
funding needed for prison labor. Land, mineral resources and other
natural resources legally employed by prisons, as well as the
property of prisons are protected by law; no entity or individual
can trespass or damage those properties.
Fundamental Principles
Article 3 of the Prison Law states that prisons should follow the
principle of combining penalty with reform, education with labor,
in a bid to reform prisoners into law-abiding citizens.
1.
Transformation Through Punishment
Prisons punish criminals because, without punishment, it is
difficult for criminals to come to grips with their crimes and
begin their life anew. While punishment focuses on enforcement,
reform focuses on transformation. Punishment is the means, while
transformation is the end. The purpose of punishment is to
transform criminals into law-abiding citizens. This is precisely
what criminal penalties are for. Prisons do not punish criminals
for punishment's sake.
2.
Combining Education with Labor
To
effectively reform prisoners, it is also necessary to combine
education with labor. Education can be multifaceted: ideological,
cultural, vocational and technical.
Execution of Penalties
Law enforcement authorities implement criminal rulings and
judgments passed by judicial authorities that have already taken
effect, in accordance with legal procedures. Chinese prisons
execute the following types of penalties:
1.
Committal, i.e. commitment to imprisonment of convicts who have
been condemned to death penalty with two years reprieve, life
sentence or a fixed-term sentence. Committal means the beginning of
the execution of penalty, a serious law enforcement activity.
Therefore, it must be conducted in strict compliance with legal
procedures.
Public security authorities that incarcerate criminals that have
been condemned to death penalty with two years reprieve, life
sentence or a fixed-term sentence must transfer the criminals to
prisons for execution of penalty within one month of receipt of the
execution notice or ruling. While transferring the criminals to the
prison, courts must present relevant legal documents including
copies of the prosecution statement prepared by the procuratorate,
the ruling by the court, notice of execution and form of
registration for closure of case. Prison authorities may reject
criminals if these documents are not received. If these documents
are not complete or contain errors, the court that issues the
ruling in effect has to amend or correct the documents in a timely
fashion; those that may lead to mistaken imprisonment may not be
accepted.
Criminals that have been taken in should go through physical,
corporal and personal-effect examinations. Criminals condemned to
life imprisonment or fixed-term sentence who have been found,
during the physical examination, to have contracted serious illness
needing medical treatment on bail or female criminals who are
pregnant or breast-feeding their newborn may be exempted from
imprisonment temporarily. That provision, however does not include
criminals condemned to death penalty with a two years reprieve. The
prison should notify the court of the result of the physical
examination and the court, in turn, should decide whether the
criminals should be allowed to seek medical treatment on parole.
Personal effects that have been found to be incompatible with
regulations should be confiscated; non-essentials should, upon
approval of the inmate, be turned in to the prison authorities for
safekeeping or returned to the relatives of the inmate. Female
inmates should be examined by female police officers. Criminals
should not bring their children with them to the prison.
Upon admission into the prison, the prison authorities should
notify the family of the inmate; the notice should be issued within
five days of admission.
2.
Handling of Petitions, Accusations and Reporting by Inmates
During the execution of penalty, petitions filed by inmates should
be referred without delay to procuratorates or courts. Prisons
should set up a complaints box and designate a special individual
to open the box in order to facilitate grievance redress. The
procuratorates or the courts should notify the prison within six
days of receipt of a letter of suggestions submitted by the
prison.
Inmates have the right to bring a charge against or report prison
police and other personnel for their illegal acts. The prison
authorities should process the submitted materials and get the
matter resolved if it falls within their jurisdiction; if it is not
within their jurisdiction, then it should be transferred without
delay to procuratorates or courts.
3.
Serving a Sentence Outside the Prison
This is a system that allows criminals who meet prescribed
conditions to serve their sentence outside the prison temporarily.
This is done in two ways. First, upon announcement of the ruling,
if the convict is seriously ill warranting medical treatment on
bail, or is pregnant or breast-feeding her baby, the court may
decide that the convict can serve his or her sentence outside the
prison. Second, while serving a term, an inmate may be permitted to
serve the remainder of the sentence outside the prison through
meeting the following conditions: seriously ill and in danger of
death in the short term; serious chronic illness for which medical
treatment is not effective; over 60 years of age, in poor physical
conditions and unlikely to endanger society anymore; physically
handicapped and unable to work. In such cases, the prison
authorities should prepare a written proposal and submit it to
prison administration authorities of the provinces (municipalities
and autonomous regions).
Once the circumstances permitting a temporary serving of a sentence
outside the prison are no longer there, prisoners should be
readmitted and continue to serve their sentence. If the decision
was made by a court, the prisoner should be handed over by the
public security handler to the prison authorities; if the decision
was made by the prison authorities, the public security authorities
that handle the case should notify the prison authorities in a
timely fashion. Those that have already served their sentence
outside the prison should complete release formalities at the
original admission prison. For those that died while serving their
sentence outside the prison, public security authorities should
notify the original admission prison of the death.
4.
Commutation of Sentence and Parole
Commutation means an abatement of sentence in accordance with legal
requirements and procedures. Prisons are responsible for filing
applications to courts for prisoners who meet requirements for
commutation. The court should review an application and adjudicate
within one month of receipt of proposal. For complicated or
extraordinary cases, that deadline may be extended for one more
month.
5.
Release and Placement
Upon completion of their term, prisoners should be released and
issued a certificate of release. The prisoner should provide a
written evaluation of the prisoner's performance in prison and hand
it over along with a copy of the ruling to the public security
outlet that handles the registration of permanent residence of the
former prisoner.
The released person should apply for registration of permanent
residence with the local public security authorities with the
certificate of release and they should enjoy equal rights as other
citizens.
Prison Administration
Prison administration includes the following:
1.
Classification
Prisoners, based on the nature of their crime, type of penalty,
length of sentence, performance, age, gender and other
characteristics, are classified into different groups and are
incarcerated, managed and educated accordingly.
2.
Use of Warning, Preventive Devices and Weapons
Warning, including armed warning, is resorted to by prison police
to maintain normal order and security at prisons. Prison
authorities may also decide to take security precautions such as
guarding and control behind the cordon line. In addition, the
prison authorities should also mobilize militias,
security-maintenance organizations and the general public
surrounding the prison to maintain order and security in the
surrounding areas. Once inmates attempt to escape, riot, revolt, or
outsiders attempt to break into a jail or stage a riot, prison
police can join hands with external forces to put down the
unrest.
Preventive devices are used for inmates inclined to commit
dangerous acts. They are not to be used for inmates who are
advanced in age with illness, handicapped inmates and minor inmates
under normal circumstances. Except for rare circumstances, they are
not to be used on female inmates. Inmates who wear these preventive
devices should not participate in labor activities organized by
prison authorities.
Use of preventive devices on inmates must be approved by prison
authorities. If a contingency warrants it, these devices can be put
on inmates before approval is secured, but approval formalities
must be secured immediately afterwards. Inmates should not wear
handcuffs or shackles longer than seven days normally and not
longer than 15 days maximum, except for prisoners awaiting
execution.
Armed police and prison police may use weapons in emergency
situations in compliance with legal procedures.
3.
Communications and Meetings
While serving their sentence, prisoners may communicate with
others, but their correspondence must be screened by relevant
authorities. However, their letters to superior prison and judicial
authorities should not be screened.
While serving their sentence, prisoners may also meet with visiting
relatives or custodians. In principle, they should not meet people
outside their kinship, unless otherwise approved.
In
practice, aside from normal visiting times, prison authorities also
allow prisoners to visit their family or handle a family emergency
for a period of three to five days, but not to exceed seven days in
special circumstances.
4.
Living and Hygiene
Adult prisoners normally work eight hours a day; extended work
hours as necessitated by production plans should be approved by
prison authorities.
Prisoners also have two hours of study time and eight hours of
sleep everyday. Prisoners of minor age work half a day and study
half a day; their sleep time should be no less than nine hours a
day. Prisoners of minor age should not engage in heavy manual
labor, labor that is beyond their physical capabilities, or other
work that hampers their physical health. In addition, prisoners
should have time for cultural or sports activities everyday.
Prisoners should take statutory holidays and weekends off.
Prisoners should be provided with food and beverages comparable to
those provided to workers in similar fields at local state-owned
enterprises of similar size. Prisoner kitchens should be managed by
full-time staff and efforts should be made to improve the diet of
prisoners as much as possible.
Prison cells and surrounding facilities should comply with
requirements for incarcerating criminals and other statutory
requirements such as sanitation, fire control, anti-earthquake and
heating standards.
In
addition, prisons should also set up clinics or hospitals in
accordance with the size of the prison and the number of inmates
and be equipped with needed medical devices and drugs.
5.
Rewards and Punishment
Prison authorities may reward or punish inmates in compliance with
legal procedures on the basis of evaluations of prisoners'
performance in transforming themselves through education and
labor.
Evaluations cover prisoners' ideological, educational (political,
cultural and technical), disciplinary and physical labor
performance.
Rewards can be public recognition, material incentive or a record
of merit in the individual's personal file; punishments can be
warning, a record of demerit in the individual's personal file or
solitary confinement. Any reward or punishment should be recorded
faithfully in the prisoner's file.
