The Chinese Prison System

Crime, a deviant behavior that breaks norms and laws, is a problem unanimously experiences in all cultures. Despite this, there are a variety of common approaches including deterrence, restitution, incarceration, and rehabilitation used to deal with this universal challenge. However, in the case of many nations, ethics come into question involving incarceration as a method to reduce crime. Besides criticism of the use of solitary confinement due to its deteriorating psychological effect, there are many cases of the unethical and unjust treatment of incarceration people. One of the nation most criticized for its prison system is China. Unlike Western penal systems, the Chinese prison system is divided up into four different types of …show more content…
Another type of labor camp called laogai, meaning reform through labor, exists as a severely harsher iteration of Chinese labor camps. Within the laogai, prisoners were forced to work as slaves doing work ranging from picking tea leaves to digging coal from unstable mines. The treatment of those within is dismal at best between unreachable work quotas, dismal rations, and corrupt guards. Even though both types of labor camps were officially abolished almost five years ago, it is still unlikely that either variety of these camps have shut …show more content…
Among several horror stories passed on by former inmate, the common theme of systematic corruption, inhumane living and working conditions, and violence are overly present. In one account, the American sociologist visiting Chinese prisons found himself locked away inside one. During his eight-month stay, he was refused medical treatment for his concussion until weeks after his arrest, he was given the meager rations of rice, turnips and pork fat to survive on, and he worked in the same abysmal conditions as the other prisoners. His daily work included creating thousands of Christmas lights, yet he was still spared from the worst treatment due to his concussion and the American consulate who assured that Chinese penal law was followed exactly in his case. His time in prison was obviously less than enjoyable, but it was still better than the cruelty from the guards and the gangs that he observed while there. In general, prison is the harshest institution in the nation and although conditions vary between the hundred of facilities, they do not improve. In all prisons, the food is poor, the living conditions are cramped, the guards are either cruel or absent or sometimes both, the work expected of the inmates if inhuman, and the prisons do not follow the few laws that exist because there are no governmental or independent groups that can enforce