Word: jails
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...February, 24-year-old Li Qiaoming was beaten to death by other inmates in a jail in the southern province of Yunnan. The initial explanation, that he had died during a game of "elude the cat" - a type of "hide and seek" - touched off widespread indignation at the implausibility of the story. To respond to the outcry, provincial officials invited a group of bloggers and journalists to investigate the circumstances of Li's death. The unusual exercise in public participation stumbled when jail officials refused to provide critical pieces of evidence, including surveillance tapes of the detention center. The comments...
...early April the government announced a three-month plan to educate police on proper jail procedures. That came after four more deaths were reported, including a 50-year-old man who authorities said died shortly after waking from a nightmare in a jail in Jiangxi province, and a 59-year-old inmate on Hainan Island was killed by other prisoners for refusing to take a shower...
...hands of prisoners acting on orders from other inmates. Because the problems have only been identified at the local level, Chinese media has been given relative freedom to cover abuses, says David Bandurski, a researcher with the China Media Project at Hong Kong University. "These cases of jail deaths are focusing right now on brutal acts carried out by gangs of prisoners," he says. "While the lines of responsibility leading to local police should be clear, we are not talking about acts of brutality carried out directly by police, which would be far more sensitive." And, Bandurski adds...
...custody of judicial officials could lessen the likelihood of abuse. "Oral confessions should not be used as evidence any more," Liu says. "And detention centers should be overseen by judicial administrative offices, instead of the police." Until the government enacts those fundamental reforms, then the list of China's jail dead will only grow...
Three soldiers from that murderous expedition have already been tried by court-martial for their roles in the crimes. All were found guilty and all were sentenced to jail terms of 90 years or longer. But because Green, whom the three other soldiers have described as both the plot's mastermind and trigger man, was discharged before the full extent of the crimes was discovered, he is being tried in a civilian court, where federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He faces 17 counts of conspiracy, rape, murder, unlawful use of a weapon and obstruction of justice. (See TIME...