Beijing Prison

From Beijing Prison

About ten minutes into our tour of Beijing Prison, Micah leaned towards me and asked "Do you feel like we are at Teresenstadt right before the Red Cross visited?" Because it is so hard to tell truth from fiction here in China, it is hard to say if his comparison was really so far off the mark.

The Chinese government opened Beijing Prison to foreign visitors several years ago. (It is one of only two such prisons that are open to the public) Since then, the prison has won numerous government awards as a "model" prison in China. Our criminal law professor arranged a tour for the LL.M. class as part of our study of criminal punishment in China. I doubt we saw the most interesting parts of the prison, and it is hard to evaluate the truth of what we did see. Nevertheless, here is my report:

Upon arriving at the facility, we met the head warden in a large conference room, where the staff served us tea and welcomed us with speeches. Over the next 30 minutes we viewed a "documentary" English language video about the prison. Here's what the video told us:

• Beijing Prison is home to approximately 2,000 adult male criminals.
• Ninety percent of the criminals in Beijing have been convicted of violent crimes and are serving 15 – 20 years in prison.
• The first three months of incarceration resemble boot camp. The prisoners learn to march in form (goose-step actually), maintain strict decorum, and respect the guards.
• The primary goal during incarceration is to reform the prisoners. The reform program has three prongs: 1) reform through supervision 2) reform through labor 3) reform through education.
• Reform through supervision means that the guards supervise every aspect of a prisoner's life. Guards award points to the prisoners based on their performance of daily activities and their attitude. Points can be used to gain privileges at the prison.
• Reform through labor means that each prisoner maintains a job at the prison and each prisoner leaves with a valuable skill after he has served his time. Prisoners are paid for their labor.
• Prisoners all take classes each week. Many prisoners receive a college education and one even received his Ph.D. in law.
• Beijing Prison has received numerous awards for its humane treatment of prisoners and resounding success in rehabilitating its inmates. All prisoners leave to become happy productive members of society.
• The prisoners greatly respect the guards and there are no outbreaks of violence in the prison.
• Foreign visitors, including human rights activists agree that Beijing Prison is a model facility. (Clip of professor from US disparaging the inhumanity of US prisons included with the factoid).

After watching the video, our group proceeded to the detention facility. Our tour began just outside the prison gates, where the guards requested we form three lines. Together with six prison guards, we then walked into the holding pen following the first gate. After passing through the second gate, we proceeded to the south cell block to see where the prisoners sleep.

Each cell contained six sets of bunk beds, four desks with benches wide enough for three men each, and a large fish tank. Each prisoner in the cell "owns" one fish in the tank and is responsible for caring for one plant. Thus, each room contains twelve plants.

The recreational room attached to this cell-block contained a ping pong table, a television, a set of basketballs, and some books. After the tour we were allowed to ask questions, and one of the six guards walking with our tour recorded each question in a small notebook. We learned that prisons can submit complaints to a complaint box and can request an attorney if they so chose. If prisoners earn enough points, the prison will lobby the court on their behalf for a sentence reduction. However, the prisoners do not get legal representation in those proceedings.

For our third stop the guards led us to a large auditorium where we had one of the strangest experiences to date: a musical performance by the prisoners. The curtains opened to the Star Wars theme blaring through the loudspeakers while six prisoners in gray jumpsuits walked onto the stage amid dry ice, each carrying a different instrument. A large video screen in the background then displayed running horses while the group played a traditional Chinese song featuring a flautist playing at center stage. But then it got better.

For the ironic finale, we watched a lone prisoner sing the theme song from the movie "Ghost"—the theme song entitled "Unchained Melody." As the prisoner crooned, the large video screen in the background displayed the scene where Demi Moore busily makes a clay urn as Patrick Swayzee fondles her. When the performance ended, Micah and I turned to each other as if to ask: how did we get to this moment? We had begun the tour solemly contemplating the state of human rights in China and somehow ended it watching prisoner 24601 sing Whoaaaaa, my looovee, my darliiiing . .

Professor Wang then selected me to express the thanks of the LL.M. students by signing the Beijing Prison guest book. While the prison camera flashed, and still in shock from the strange performance, I wrote the following:

On behalf of the Peking University LLM students I would like to thank you for the tour of your impressive facilities. We greatly enjoyed the tour. Thank you for this interesting and educational opportunity. Sincerely, Katie Schwalb, Peking University LLM Student.

I hope I'm not on the next "documentary film" about the prison.

Ultimately, however, the tour proved to be positive. It's quite apparent that the prison is a model for a reason. The facilities were impeccable, right down to the crisply-folded blankets and the complete absence of any prisoners to interact with directly. Indeed, during the tour, the only prisoners we saw were on the performance stage, although we did hear a bunch of them marching in the distance. So it would seem that human rights are progressing in China, at least in the context of our very well-scripted visit.