China's Penal Reform Removes Prisons' Profit Motive

SCMP ^ | August 13, 2003 | Josephine Ma in Beijing

[FreepForever]

Don't hold your breath, HighRoadToChina. This is just another form of "privatized" labor camp.

[FreepForever]

PING

Special PING for HighRoadToChina.

[.cnI redruM]

China is beginning to feel pressured to join the civilized world as it simultaneosly joins that world's economy and markets. Lok for tensions w/in China to increase as a result.

[The Pheonix]

ping

thanks

[HighRoadToChina]

Thanks FreepForever!

[HighRoadToChina]

If you off my Communist China ping list or would like to be added to my list, please FRemail me.

[HighRoadToChina]

"They must not pursue pure economic profits and make big money while departing from their chief purpose - correction," the minister said."

It's kind of hard to pursue profits when one is making $0 per hour.

What a bald face lier this minister is!

[The Pheonix]

Historically, the feudal Imperial mindset of the Ruling dynasties was to dish out very harsh punishment to criminals, to maintain a very strong "LAW and ORDER", in order to preserve the Dynasty. Not forgetting it was not easy to rule such a vast country like China, before the invention of the telephone, telegraph, fax, email, airplane, hence the IRON-FIST was the way

Now, with China more exposed to the outside world, HOPEFULLY, China will modernize nd progress on its legal and judgical system

[potlatch]

Hope something can be done to help these people. Take care, Freep Forever.

[PhilDragoo]

How many of these "criminals" are labor organizers, Christian, Falun Gong, democracy advocates, in general, critics of the glorious regime?

"Correction"--correction to what? Blind obedience to another soviet system of rewards for the guards, gruel for the plebes.

This great leap forward is underwhelming.

[harpseal]

Ping for the use of slaves in China.

Long hours in dangerous conditions for no pay. That sure sounds like slavery to me.

on or off let me know.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[alrea]

just opening up markets to criminals criminalizes both the buyer and the seller. those that demand the goods are as rotten as those that supply the goods.

and free trade exists only when markets are free.

china has much to do before it is a free country.

[lelio]

China is beginning to feel pressured to join the civilized world

The US is slowly coming around to that too with the recent House Judiciary Committee action to strip the requirement that all federal agencies must look to Federal Prision Industries (FPI) to supply their products and services.
FPI's made up of 21k inmates and had $680M in sales. They're not just making license plates but rather items like furniture, directly competing with private industry.

[Quix]

That's a big challenge--when and how to help such people!

Prayer is no doubt the best bet.

How to put legs to the prayers is another challenge.

[potlatch]

Prayer is no doubt the best bet.

It is. I was going to say that THAT is about all that we can do. Hope you are doing as well as can be expected with your Mother.

[Quix]

Thanks tons for your kind thoughts and prayers.

Mother seemed to have some strange neurological complaint feeling 'stung' as though by insects on various parts of her skin though there was clearly no external cause.

Sometimes it's hard to know how much of a problem is related to Alzheimer's and how much to her lifelong craziness and demands for attention.

Have to depend on God and that He 'giveth more grace.'

But encouragements like yours help keep characters like me in this situation going.

Blessings to you and all your close relationships that you walk in His provision, His Peace, Joy, Love, Truth and Intimacy--in His Spirit and Will.

LUB,

[FreepForever]

Thanks everybody for your comments. I have a feeling that this is China’s image polishing in preparation for their Olympic. I can’t see any fundamental change in their attitude towards their notorious human rights records. PhilDragoo is right. Even the word “criminal” has a different definition in China. There are many “prisons of conscience” who got jailed just for speaking the truth.

I do not object to light labors in prisons like making uniforms for government hospitals, book binding for public libraries, etc. The question is: China’s prisoners are brutalized and not paid (they are not even sufficiently fed) and that the prison’s authority are making huge 100% profits from selling these commercial merchandise. This is blatant slavery. All buyers of these merchandise are essentially supporting this system.

Police brutality is another problem in China’s legal and judicial system. About 3 months ago in China, the police arrested a drug addict mother and just lock the door behind them. A few days later, her 3 years old daughter was found dead in the house due to starvation and dehydration. And, the authority still insisted that the procedure is correct.

It is necessary that China must accept an international recognized standard of human rights. It is time for the free world to warn China that they cannot get the best of both worlds. They cannot get all the benefits from free trades and, at the same time, totally ignore this.

[attagirl]

and in the US of A prisons are beginning to be contracted for factory work--competing with the beleagured American worker

[attagirl]

It is necessary that China must accept an international recognized standard of human rights. It is time for the free world to warn China that they cannot get the best of both worlds. They cannot get all the benefits from free trades and, at the same time, totally ignore this.

I agree with your assessment that this "reform" is an effort to clean up the image for the Olympics.

Unfortunately, money talks. And I don't call what transpires between us and china free trade. It is a sell-out and a betrayal of our workers and our country. Tax advantages go to companies which have their factories overseas.

All those factories there can be retooled to make armaments. We have less and less factories to retool. But will our armaments soon be Made in China as a matter of routine?