A Brief Introduction
The Laogai Research Foundation, an NGO in the United States, estimates that there are almost 1,100 labor institutions in the Laogai system with an estimated 6.8 million inmates.
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Laogai, which translates from Mandarin to mean "reform through labor," is the Chinese system of labor prison factories, detention centers, and re-education camps. Mao Zedong created the system in the early 1950s, modeling it after the Soviet Gulag, as a way to punish and reform criminals in a manner useful to the state, producing thought reform and economic gain. The Laogai system is still in place today and continues to deprive individuals of basic human rights. An individual's mere association with groups unpopular with the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) government can result in the individual being sent to a reform institution in the Laogai system, through a process that deprives the person of due process rights. In addition to neutralizing potential sources of instability, throughout history, the Laogai System has provided free prison labor to construct public works projects, produce consumer goods, enrich Communist Party officials, and arguably enhance the price competitiveness of Chinese exports. Once inside the Laogai, prisoners are subject to cruel and degrading treatment and oftentimes torture. These human rights abuses violate both Chinese and international human rights norms.
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The Laogai System
The Laogai system consists of three distinct categories of reform: convict labor (Laogai), re-education through labor (Laojiao), and forced job placement (Jiuye).
Laogai, the most common type of reform, exists for prisoners convicted of crimes under the Chinese Criminal Code. Article 41 of the criminal code states that anyone sentenced for a crime "who is able to work, shall undergo reform through labor." The PRC uses Laojiao to detain individuals it feels are a threat to national security or it considers unproductive. Individuals in Laojiao may be detained for up to three years. Because those in Laojiao have not committed crimes under PRC law, they are referred to as "personnel" rather than prisoners and they are |
not entitled to judicial procedure. Instead, individuals are sent to the Laojiao following administrative sentences dispensed by local public security forces. This vague detainment policy allows the PRC to avoid allegations that the individual's arrest was politically motivated and to assert that they were arrested for reasons such as "not engaging in honest pursuits" or "being able-bodied but refusing to work."
Finally, Jiuye is used by the PRC to keep individuals under government controls after the person's release from a labor camp. The Jiuye requires former detainees of the Laogai to live and work in specifically assigned locations. Under this policy, 70 percent of prisoners are held within the prison camp to continue working after completing their sentences. |
Each Laogai camp has both a camp name and a public name. For example, the Shanghai Municipal Prison is also called the Shanghai Printing, Stationery Factory. Financial information on 99 forced labor camp enterprises collected by Dun and Bradstreet was released on June 30, 1999. According to this data, the 99 camps had total annual sales of U.S.$842.7 million. These camps represent only 9 percent of the roughly 1,100 known Laogai camps. The extremely cheap cost of labor in theLaogai system creates a very low-priced, competitive product to export, providing the PRC additional incentive to continue its use of the Laogai system
Laogai by Any Other Name
Laogai sentences theoretically carried a fixed term, while laojiao inmates originally served terms of indefinite duration. In 1979, authorities limited laojiao sentences to four years, the maximum term of confinement until the system was formally abolished in 2013. In response to pressure to abolish reform-through-labor, authorities ostensibly ended the laogai labor camp in 1994 by changing the name of these camps to ‘prisons.’ Although the Communist Party nominally ended the laogai labor camp and recently formally abolished the laojiao labor camp, the fundamental structure of the Laogai System remains intact: the Party still operates a network of prison factories for |
convicted criminals and administrative detention facilities for non-criminal offenders in which inmates are forced to perform arduous labor and undergo intense political indoctrination. Administrative detention facilities in which inmates are forced to labor and endure political indoctrination include legal education centers, drug rehabilitation centers, and custody and education centers.
The Party also uses other extrajudicial methods of intimidating and detaining individuals deemed disruptive to political stability. Such practices include confining people in “black jails” and psychiatric hospitals. Although inmates in these facilities are often detained for long periods of time and reportedly tortured, they are typically not forced to labor, which means these jails are not properly classified as part of the Laogai System.
Although the Chinese government classifies the number of inmates in its prison and administrative detention facilities as a state secret, the Laogai Research Foundation estimates that the Laogai System is currently comprised of over one thousand detention facilities in which millions of individuals are imprisoned, and that over fifty million people have been incarcerated in the Laogai System.
Below is the list of over 1000 China's Laogai facilities by Laogai Research Foundation in 2008
The Party also uses other extrajudicial methods of intimidating and detaining individuals deemed disruptive to political stability. Such practices include confining people in “black jails” and psychiatric hospitals. Although inmates in these facilities are often detained for long periods of time and reportedly tortured, they are typically not forced to labor, which means these jails are not properly classified as part of the Laogai System.
Although the Chinese government classifies the number of inmates in its prison and administrative detention facilities as a state secret, the Laogai Research Foundation estimates that the Laogai System is currently comprised of over one thousand detention facilities in which millions of individuals are imprisoned, and that over fifty million people have been incarcerated in the Laogai System.
Below is the list of over 1000 China's Laogai facilities by Laogai Research Foundation in 2008
Handbook of Laogai Facilities in China.pdf | |
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