Nemesis
03-31-2004, 06:42 PM
Shen Dongming's jaw dropped when he heard prison authorities were to convene a hearing to seek opinions from thousands of prisoners inside the Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai.
"How could the guards ask for our ideas?" said Shen, a native from east China's Jiangsu Province. "We could hardly believe it. It was like a fantasy."
More than 4,000 prisoners at Tilanqiao responded with surprise at first, but later turned out in a week with 30 proposals to the hearing committee, asking prison authorities to tell inmates' their physical examination results, prolong family member meeting time, consult prices of instant noodles outside the prison and let them choose their hair style and even dye their hair.
"It is absolutely unprecedented in thousands of years in China' s prison history for prison officers to let prisoners have a say on prison management," said Qiao Liguo, warden of Tilanqiao Prison, China's oldest jailhouse still in use.
"It is also our prison's first hearing since its establishment in the 1930s," Qiao said.
Observers say the recent move by Tilanqiao Prison to hold a hearing for prisoners reflects a "great leap forward" in prison management as hearings are usually held in China on issues which might arouse fierce controversy like raising water and gas prices.
"Chinese prisons used to closely link prisoners' basic rights to their performance behind bars and many such rights were usually rejected if they did not behave well," said Professor Wang Quandi of the law school with Shanghai-based Fudan University.
"The hearing is one great step forward for Chinese prisons in their management," he said.
At the hearing broadcast live to the entire prison via closed- circuit televisions on March 15, a deputy warden and five other officers from the education, administration and health sectors listened to the proposals made by 15 prisoner representatives chosen among more than 4,000.
"I only heard about hearings hosted by local legislatures on issues of plane or train tickets before," said Li Zhiyong, one of the 15 prisoner representatives proposing at the hearing.
"I had never expected such a hearing to let us voice our suggestions on prison management," said Li, a former doctor before he was jailed at Tilanqiao Prison.
The prison authorities said the feasible suggestions by prisoners have been absorbed into the prison's new management rules and regulations at a plenary session attended by middle- level officers only a day after the hearing.
"The hearing enables us prison guards to listen directly to the voices from those inmates," said Cui Jie, a prison police who attended the hearing, "their rightful requests were sometimes ignored in the past."
The prison said hearings would be long-term measures before they publish any regulations closely related to prisoners at Tilanqiao where most inmates are serving jail terms of 15 years or above.
Prisoners welcomed this change, hailing the hearing a "huge success".
"We felt for the first time that we were striving together with the prison guards for a common good," said Shen Dongming, also a prisoner representative at the hearing.
China has vowed to speed up reform of its judiciary system, especially the number of prisons, during recent years. Prisoners are now allowed to get married when serving their jail terms, and supermarkets and psychological hospitals have been opened inside prisons.
Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen pledged to create a more humanitarian jail system and "integrate with the other parts of the society in a more open manner" at a national conference late last year.
Beginning 2004, prisoners in Shanghai no longer have to shave their heads but are free to choose their hairstyle and wear a watch, which was unimaginable in the past.
"Prisoners are still prisoners however well they behave," said warden Qiao Liguo, "the deprival of their freedom has been the biggest punishment for their crimes."
"But they are still human beings and their basic human rights must be guaranteed," he added.
Xinhua news
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/1223/class000100004/hwz188468.htm
"How could the guards ask for our ideas?" said Shen, a native from east China's Jiangsu Province. "We could hardly believe it. It was like a fantasy."
More than 4,000 prisoners at Tilanqiao responded with surprise at first, but later turned out in a week with 30 proposals to the hearing committee, asking prison authorities to tell inmates' their physical examination results, prolong family member meeting time, consult prices of instant noodles outside the prison and let them choose their hair style and even dye their hair.
"It is absolutely unprecedented in thousands of years in China' s prison history for prison officers to let prisoners have a say on prison management," said Qiao Liguo, warden of Tilanqiao Prison, China's oldest jailhouse still in use.
"It is also our prison's first hearing since its establishment in the 1930s," Qiao said.
Observers say the recent move by Tilanqiao Prison to hold a hearing for prisoners reflects a "great leap forward" in prison management as hearings are usually held in China on issues which might arouse fierce controversy like raising water and gas prices.
"Chinese prisons used to closely link prisoners' basic rights to their performance behind bars and many such rights were usually rejected if they did not behave well," said Professor Wang Quandi of the law school with Shanghai-based Fudan University.
"The hearing is one great step forward for Chinese prisons in their management," he said.
At the hearing broadcast live to the entire prison via closed- circuit televisions on March 15, a deputy warden and five other officers from the education, administration and health sectors listened to the proposals made by 15 prisoner representatives chosen among more than 4,000.
"I only heard about hearings hosted by local legislatures on issues of plane or train tickets before," said Li Zhiyong, one of the 15 prisoner representatives proposing at the hearing.
"I had never expected such a hearing to let us voice our suggestions on prison management," said Li, a former doctor before he was jailed at Tilanqiao Prison.
The prison authorities said the feasible suggestions by prisoners have been absorbed into the prison's new management rules and regulations at a plenary session attended by middle- level officers only a day after the hearing.
"The hearing enables us prison guards to listen directly to the voices from those inmates," said Cui Jie, a prison police who attended the hearing, "their rightful requests were sometimes ignored in the past."
The prison said hearings would be long-term measures before they publish any regulations closely related to prisoners at Tilanqiao where most inmates are serving jail terms of 15 years or above.
Prisoners welcomed this change, hailing the hearing a "huge success".
"We felt for the first time that we were striving together with the prison guards for a common good," said Shen Dongming, also a prisoner representative at the hearing.
China has vowed to speed up reform of its judiciary system, especially the number of prisons, during recent years. Prisoners are now allowed to get married when serving their jail terms, and supermarkets and psychological hospitals have been opened inside prisons.
Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen pledged to create a more humanitarian jail system and "integrate with the other parts of the society in a more open manner" at a national conference late last year.
Beginning 2004, prisoners in Shanghai no longer have to shave their heads but are free to choose their hairstyle and wear a watch, which was unimaginable in the past.
"Prisoners are still prisoners however well they behave," said warden Qiao Liguo, "the deprival of their freedom has been the biggest punishment for their crimes."
"But they are still human beings and their basic human rights must be guaranteed," he added.
Xinhua news
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/1223/class000100004/hwz188468.htm