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Police-monitored Reform Centers Improving Efficiency
China's reform centers housed some 53,000 people involved in prostitution and pornographic activities in 2000, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).
Zhang Weihang, director of the ministry's department in charge of detention and drug rehabilitation centers, disclosed the news Thursday afternoon, adding that some 247,000 drug addicts and over 6,000 mental patients were also in rehabilitation in the year.
MPS Vice-minister Bai Jingfu affirmed the great achievement, calling on all police-monitored centers to further improve their management and better rehabilitate inmates.
China's MPS is in now charge of the management of detention centers, compulsory drug rehabilitation centers, as well as rehabilitation centers for detained prostitutes and mental patients.
During the 1990-1998 period, governments at various levels spent some four billion yuan on building and improving facilities in the above-mentioned centers, which the vice minister attributed to the rapid development of Chinese society and more respect to the human rights of inmates.
A typical example is the Changzhou Detention Center, a villa- like center in east China. Prison inmates there can drink purified water whenever they want, have a hot bath once a week in winter, and those who are well-behaved can be granted with a home leave.
"Different policies should be adopted for dealing with crime and in reforming criminals," said a local police officer, who believes that a humane environment should be provided to prisoners to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
To date, some 70 percent of China's detention centers have basically met the state-set requirements in all aspects, according the vice minister.
Besides, regulations on the management of those centers for detained prostitutes and drug addicts were promulgated and implemented in the year 2000.
The vice minister called on public security organs at all levels to strengthen the leadership of those centers so as to make greater contributions to maintaining social stability and public order.
The ministry is scheduled to carry out a responsibility system by yearend, which vows to measure each individual prison guard's work in terms of both quality and quantity, and the results are expected to be linked to personal payments and future promotions.
Bai reiterated that police officers are not allowed to abuse their power, and are prohibited from ordering prison inmates to work for their own benefits.
Three carved granite keys, as tall as seven meters, stand in front of the gate of the Changzhou Detention Center. A local police officer explained their symbolic meaning,"One serves to open the door leading to the twisted souls of criminals, another to open the door of the law for them, and the last to open the door to a brand-new life after they return to society."
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