Security of Chinese prisons improved: report

BEIJING - The security of China's prisons has been improved but the facilities are still under pressure from increasing numbers of inmates, Minister of Justice Wu Aiying said Wednesday.

The number of prisoners who escaped in 2011 was 86.7 percent lower than that of 2005, and cases of serious incidents in jails reduced by 72.7 percent in the same time frame, Wu said in a report to the bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

Inmates do exercises at a jail in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province. [File photo/Asianewsphoto]

Construction of security facilities in prisons was intensified in the period. To date, more than 70 percent of the country's prisons have set up emergency command centers, digital alarms and integrated entrance guarding systems. Over 80 percent of prisons are equipped with video monitoring equipment, according to Wu.

She told legislators China currently has 1.64 million prisoners in 681 prisons nationwide. The facilities are staffed by a total of 300,000 correction officers.

The Ministry of Justice has also strengthened professional ethics education for correction officers and training for wardens as well as government officials in charge of prison management, Wu said.

Wardens are strictly prohibited from abusing, insulting, beating or allowing others to beat the inmates, and jailhouse bullying is seriously punished.

Prison managers are also told to make transparent information available in prisons, Wu said, so that prisoners and their families are informed of the convicts' rights, obligations and treatment as well as conditions and procedures for their sentence commutation and parole.

However, Wu warned the country's jails are still facing growing pressure and grave security challenges.

Chinese prisons have been receiving a growing number of inmates in recent years and the number of dangerous convicts is also rising.

Furthermore, with the implementation of the amended Criminal Law, correctional facilities are supposed to take more convicts serving longer jail terms, and some of these individuals are more prone to commit prison violence, attempt to escape, kill themselves or assault police, the minister of justice said.

Wu pledged further efforts by the ministry to work with other government departments in enhancing correction and education work for prisoners as well as in improving living conditions in prisons to better safeguard inmates' legitimate rights and interests.

A risk management program to evaluate and deal with prison issues and  a security early warning system is also due to be implemented, Wu promised.