Ministry of Justice Issues Prohibitions to Restrain Prison and RTL Police Abuses

July 26, 2006

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) distributed "Six Prohibitions on People's Prison Police" and "Six Prohibitions on People's Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) Police" on February 14 for implementation by justice bureaus across China, according to a February 16 Legal Daily article (in Chinese). MOJ Vice Minister Fan Fangping told Legal Daily that, beginning on the date of the announcement, prison and RTL police found violating the prohibitions would be subject to punishments ranging from warnings to dismissal. In cases in which police behavior may constitute a crime, authorities will also investigate the actor's criminal liability. Vice Minister Fan disclosed that the MOJ is preparing to dispatch a supervisory group of its own, and that local justice bureaus will also be expected to implement regular supervision and investigation of police activities.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) distributed "Six Prohibitions on People's Prison Police" and "Six Prohibitions on People's Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) Police" on February 14 for implementation by justice bureaus across China, according to a February 16 Legal Daily article (in Chinese). MOJ Vice Minister Fan Fangping told Legal Daily that, beginning on the date of the announcement, prison and RTL police found violating the prohibitions would be subject to punishments ranging from warnings to dismissal. In cases in which police behavior may constitute a crime, authorities will also investigate the actor's criminal liability. Vice Minister Fan disclosed that the MOJ is preparing to dispatch a supervisory group of its own, and that local justice bureaus will also be expected to implement regular supervision and investigation of police activities.

In addition to reiterating existing prohibitions under Article 14 of the Prison Law and Article 22 of the People's Police Law, the prohibitions also represent some positive new developments. The MOJ initiative signifies central government recognition that problems of physical abuse and other misconduct exist within the Chinese prison and RTL systems. Vice Minister Fan acknowledged, "On an individual police officer basis, there still exists an attitude of privilege and a working style that is simplistic and crude, and even behavior that harms the interests of the masses." A February 17 Xinhua report (in Chinese) noted that the prohibitions break new ground by subjecting all violations, and not just violations with "serious consequences," to punishment in accordance with law. The report noted that in the past, some officials who have violated laws and procedures have avoided accountability for their acts because they "did not lead to serious consequences." The new prohibitions make no such distinction, and aim more broadly at the most common issues arising in the prison and RTL systems, according to Vice Minister Fan. In particular, they:

  • Strictly prohibit beating or subjecting inmates serving a prison (or RTL) sentence to corporal punishment, or instigating others to beat or subject such an inmate to corporal punishment;
  • Strictly prohibit using firearms, police equipment, or police cars in violation of regulations;
  • Strictly prohibit asking for, or receiving, possessions belonging to inmates serving a prison (or RTL) sentence or to their family members;
  • Strictly prohibit transferring or providing contraband on behalf of inmates serving a prison (or RTL) sentence;
  • Strictly prohibit drinking alcohol while on duty; and
  • Strictly prohibit gambling.

On January 1, Beijing municipal officials put into effect a similar set of six prohibitions, as well as "Temporary Provisions on Investigating Responsibility for Mistakes in Law Enforcement by People's Prison Police" (Beijing Provisions), which impose quality control measures on prison police in the Chinese capital. According to a December 15, 2005, Beijing Daily article (via Xinhua, in Chinese) the Beijing Provisions provide disciplinary measures for the actions of prison police during 23 different stages of prison administration, including placing criminals into prison, managing and releasing criminals, handling and suggesting sentence reductions and parole, and handling temporary service of sentence outside prison and release on parole for medical treatment or evaluation. Beijing prison police are subject to warnings, demerits, demotions, discharge from duty, or dismissal for misconduct toward inmates such as insults, beatings, prolonged confinement, and isolation. Prison police are subject to warnings or dismissal, depending on the degree of the violation, for intentionally failing to declare a sentence reduction or parole for inmates who meet the criteria, and for misleading diagnosis and authentication conclusions regarding medical release. In addition, the Beijing Provisions subject prison police to fines of several thousand yuan for taking gifts and money from inmates or their family members.

Despite these positive steps toward greater protection of Chinese prisoners, the MOJ and Beijing prohibitions establish a top-down supervisory system that does not specify a mechanism for victims of abuse to enforce the prohibitions against police abusers. News media reports about the February 23 release of Tiananmen democracy protestor Yu Dongyue, for example, raise questions about the availability and adequacy of legal channels for complaint by prisoners, their legal representatives, or their family members. According to a June 16, 2005, Radio Free Asia article, central government officials in Beijing never responded to calls for Yu’s release on medical grounds. A June 6, 2005, South China Morning Post article quoted Yu's mother as saying that when she submitted the application, prison officials told the family that political criminals could not be granted medical parole and that "[Yu] never admitted he was wrong." The Times reported on February 23 that Yu spent two years in solitary confinement, was subjected to electric shocks and brutal beatings, and was once tied to a post and left standing in the sun for days. According to the Times, a friend said that when authorities transferred Yu to a prison hospital after a mental breakdown in 1992, other prisoners were ordered to take care of him but instead beat him at will. Vice Minister Fan expressed to the Legal Daily that the MOJ hopes to broaden the scope of supervision over prison police abuse to include "public opinion and the masses." He explained that a supervisory telephone hotline, and either an electronic or mailing address for reporting to authorities, would help open the channels for the public at large to react to issues of abuse. Yu Dongyue's case, which drew media attention just one week after the MOJ issued the prohibitions, calls into question the practical effect of the prohibitions and what recourse might be available to ordinary citizens.