Jail System

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 misdemeanour.
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 breastfeeding 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 a court
made the decision, the prisoner should be handed over by the public security handler to the
prison authorities; if the prison authorities made the decision, 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
Prison police to maintain normal order and security at prisons resorts to warning, including
armed warning. 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.
Prison authorities must approve use of preventive devices on inmates. 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 relevant authorities
must screen their correspondence. 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. Full-time staff should manage
prisoner kitchens 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.