New Ghosts, Old Ghosts: Prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China: Prisons and Labor Reform Camps in ChinaMuch has been written about the laogai (sometimes likened to the Soviet gulag) in the People's Republic of China. Depending on the source, the prisons are described as nonexistent, enlightened institutions, or hellish places that subject the inmates to degradation and misery. The system is commonly thought of (by admirers and critics alike) as having a measurable impact on the national economy and providing significant resources to the state. Based on research in classified documents and extensive interviews with former prisoners, judicial personnel, and other insiders, and featuring case studies dealing with the three northwestern provinces, this book examines such assertions on the basis of the facts about this underexamined subject in order to arrive at a detailed, objective, and realistic picture of the situation. In the case of each province under study, the authors discuss the history of the provincial prison system and the impact that each has had at the macro, meso, and micro levels. |
Contents
Visiting the Xining Laogai Area | 1 |
1 Introduction | 4 |
2 Gansu | 29 |
One Region Two Systems | 44 |
4 Qinghai | 128 |
5 Prisons and Human Rights | 175 |
What Happens upon Release? | 189 |
7 Conclusion | 202 |
Authors Commentaries | 226 |
Others Commentaries | 231 |
Laogai Regulations | 239 |
Endnotes | 264 |
Bibliography | 299 |
Index | 307 |
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Common terms and phrases
administration agricultural Aksu arrested Article Beijing bingtuan bingtuan laogai bingtuan prison BLGT cadres cell bosses China Chinese civilian Committee convicts crime criminals detention Division economic enterprises factories FBIS figure foreign former prisoners gaizao Gansu Golmud Gongan grain Guangxi guards Gulag Gulja Haixi Harry Wu human rights imprisonment incarceration industrial inmates institutions jails jiuye Kuitun labor reeducation labor reform Lanzhou laogai camps laogai farms laogai system laogai units laojiao medical parole million Ministry of Justice Nantan Nongchang northwest number of prisoners official organization output parole People's Armed Police people's court percent personnel political prisoners prefecture prison camps prison farms prison system prisoner population problem production provinces public security authorities punishment reeducation through labor Regiment Region regulations release ribao sentence Shihezi Sifa Tang'gemu Tibetan tons torture Urumqi Uyghur Xiangride Xining Xinjiang Xinjiang prison Zhidui Zhongguo