The government is planning to extend its pilot four-year
community correction program to ease pressure on its overcrowded
prisons, sources said.
At the end of last year, some 1.5 million prisoners were serving
time in about 600 correctional facilities, according to a source;
and another told that many of the country's prisons are at maximum
capacity.
Judicial experts believe the community correction program, which
began as an experiment four years ago, is a feasible means of
reducing prison congestion, and a remarkable step in judicial
reform.
As of March 2007, 102,932 criminals had taken part in the
out-of-jail program in 507 counties and districts in 24
provinces.
One-third, or 37,779 prisoners, had finished their terms, with
the remaining 65,153 still serving out their community-based
penalty period.
"Besides alleviating pressure on prisons, community correction
is a lenient penalty and a common practice in developed countries,"
said Wu Zongxian, professor at the criminal law research institute
affiliated to the Beijing Normal University.
Only those considered "low risk" can serve community correction.
They include prisoners who are under probation or supervised
release.
They can lead a normal life and be gainfully employed except for
regularly reporting to various authorities.
Rong Rong, director of the Beijing Chaoyang District Justice
Bureau, a pioneer in the field, said community correction was a
more humane alternative to hard time behind bars.
As one of the first to take part in the community correction
program in 2003, Chaoyang District has witnessed "optimistic
results" with less than 1 percent of those in the program relapsing
into crime.
Although the capacity of China's prisons is not known, an
earlier report said the number of prisoners was 240,000 more than
the facilities could hold in 2000.
The average cost of accommodating a prisoner is equivalent to
that of a college student, about 8,000 yuan (US$1,053) per year,
and alternative methods are needed to rehabilitate inmates, experts
said.
Prison congestion first appeared in south China in the 1980s, Wu
said, adding that in recent years, the problem has spread to most
parts of China, except the western provinces.
According to Wu, room for eating and sleeping is shrinking
quickly. Rooms designed for re-education and extracurricular
activities have had to be converted into extra lock-up space.
While community correctional programs can help solve the
problem, Rong admitted there is room for the system to improve.
"We need a law to guide and standardize our work," he said.
Program advocates argue that a specific legal framework is
needed for the scheme.
(China Daily July 20, 2007)