Rules for the government and administration of prisons in China

8/6/2019 Rules for the government and administration of prisons in China

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GIFT OF


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OTPTJUL 29 !9!9 APPENDIX XII

RULESFOR THE

Government and AdministrationOF

PRISONSin China.

-

Ministry of Justice.Order No 284 1/12/2.


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RULESFOR THE GOVERNMENT & ADMINISTRATIONOF PRISONS.

(Order No, 284 issued by the Ministry of Justice,dated l-st Dec. 1913).

Chapter i. General Rules.Article i. Prisons shall be under the control of the

Ministry of Justice.Article 2. Prisons shall be used for the confinement of

those sentenced to penal servitude or deten-tion.Sometimes, if necessary, Detention Housesmay be used instead of Prisons.

Article 3. Prisoners under 18 years of age shall beconfined in Juvenile Prisons. On their attain-ing the age of 18, if the remaining term ofpenal servitude would expire within threemonths, they may still be confined in theJuvenile Prisons for such remaining term.Where in case of necessity, such as develop-ment of mental and physical conditions ofprisoners, they may be confined in JuvenilePrisons whatever their age may be.

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Article 4. Female Prisoners shall be confined in Wo-men's Prisons.

Article 5. When different kinds of prisons establishedat one and same place they shall be effectu-ally separated from each other.

Article 6. The Inspection of Prisons shall take placeevery two years by Inspectors appointed bythe Ministry of Justice on the occasion.

Article 7. Procurators may be appointed as Inspectorsof Prisons.

Article 8. Prisoners, if not satisfied with the treatmentor punishment which they are ordered toreceive in Prisons, may, within ten days fromoccurrence of the same, appeal to the properauthority, or to the Inspectors. Prior to anydecision being made in regarding such appealthe execution of such punishment or treat-ment shall not be arrested.

Article 9. Prisoners, if not satisfied with the decisionsof the proper authority or of the inspectors,may appeal to the Ministry of Justice. Thedecisions or findings of the Ministry of Justiceshall be final.

Article 10. All the affairs relating to the treatment ofprisoners, and those relating to the prison


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administration, the Superintendents of Pri-sons shall get the opinion from the PrisonOfficers at their conference.

Article n. Permission for visiting Prisons shall be gran-ted on application, provided such applicationis based upon scientifical research or otherreasonable ground.

Article 12. All confiscations made under the provisions ofthe Rules of prisons shall be used for PrisonCharities.

Article 13. The provisions made for those sentenced todentention shall be applied to those sentencedto imprisonment when necessary.

Article 14. The provisions set in the Rules of prisons shallnot be applied to Military and Naval Prisons.Those who ought to be kept in the Militaryor Naval Prisons shall, upon the requests ofthe proper authorities, be confined in theordinary Prisons.

Chapter II. Admission of New Prisoners.Article 15. No one shall be admitted into or confined in

Prisons by the Prison authorities unless thereis a proper document required by law fromany proper authority.


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Article 16. Permission shal] not be granted on applica-tions made by female prisoners to bring theirchildren with them except -where it is neces-sary.Only children upon one year of age, eitherborn in prison or outside, shall be allowed onapplication to be kept in prison with theirmother until they are one year old. Onattaining that age, they may still be allowedto remain with their mother in prison up tothe age of three years, provided no one couldbe found to whom they could be handed over.

Article 17. All new prisoners shall be examined by thePrison Physician.

Article 18. Prisoners may not be admitted into and con-fined in Prisons, if they are in any one of thefollowing conditions :

1. Insane, or the confinement in Prison mayplace them in danger of losing their lives.

2. Being in pregnancy for over sevenmonths or having just given birth of achild within one month.

3. Having some kind of contagious disease.Article 19. Prisoners being in conditions enumerated in

the last preceding Article may, whenever it is


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necessary, be temporarily admitted into andconfined in Prisons.

Article 20. The body, clothes, physical condition, rela-tionship of, and any thing brought in by allnew prisoners shall be measured, investigatedand examined.This rule shall be applied to those who havealready been confined in Prison when it isnecessary.

Article 21. Examination of physical condition and thetaking of body measurement shall not be ma-de upon the naked body unless it is necessary.

Chapter III. Imprisonment.Article 22. All prisoners shall be confined in single cells

except those whose mental or physical condi-tion demands different treatment.

Article 23. Any prisoner above the age of 18 after hav-ing been confined in cells for three years shallnot be kept in single cell unless the prisonerhimself desires it. The same shall apply toany prisoner under the age of 18 and whohas been kept in single cells for one year.

Article 24. Superintendents and instructors shall call upon all prisoners in single cells at least once


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6in every ten. days. Chief Wardens shall dothe same more frequently.

Article 25. On confining any prisoner or prisoners intocommon cells and ordering them to work withother prisoners, care must be taken as to theirage, nature of crimes which they have commit-ted, the number of times on which they havecommitted crimes, and their character, inorder that they may be put at proper placeand separated from each other.

Chapter IV. Discipline & Protection.Article 26. Whenever escapes, violent actions, assaults

or suicides attempted by prisoners, the tor-tures shall be put on them. The tortures shallbe as follows :

1. The strait-jacket.2. Hand cuffs.3. Cords.4. Chains.

Article 27. Tortures shall not be employed without theorders of the Superintendent of Prisons. Incase of emergency they may be employed andthe direction of Prison Superintendent shallbe secured afterwards.


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Article 28. Rifles and bayonets carried by Prison Officersshall not be used except on the followingoccasions :

1. Dangerous or violent actions or threatson the part of prisoners against thebody of any person.

2. Refusal on the part of prisoners tosurrender dangerous articles in theirpossession.

3. Prisoners meet together and proceedto make disturbance.

4. Outsiders make assaults upon Prisonsin order to get some prisoners out orrender assistance to prisoners in theviolent actions, or threats, or escapes.

5. On attempting to escape prisonersmake violent resistance against arrestsor refuse to obey to remain in theprison.

Article 29. Immediately after the use of arms under thecircumstance given in the last preceding Ar-ticle, report containing full particulars mustbe submitted to the Ministry of Justice.

Article 30. In case of emergency, such as providentialvisitations, force majeure, etc. Prison autho-


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rities may call upon the assistance of pri-soner, military force or police.

Article 31. In case of emergency, e. g. providential visita-tions, force majeure, etc. if it is impossible toundertake preventive measures, Prison autho-rities, may have the prisoners under their careescorted to a place of safety ; should it beimpossible to take such a step, the prisonersmay be temporarily released, but they arerequired to enter their appearance at thePrison or any Police station within 24 hoursafter such release, otherwise they shall betreated as escaped prisoners.

Article 32. Prison authorities shall have power to arrestescaped prisoners within ten days of theirescape.

Article 33. Particulars of escapes together with the per-sonal descriptions of escaped prisoners must

|be supplied to all police authorities of the

] place where the prison is situated and wherethe escaped prisoners may pass.Article 34. Particulars of escapes and of re-arrests shall

be reported to the Ministry of Justice by thePrison authorities concerned.


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Chapter V. Labour.Article~35. On assigning labours among prisoners consi-

deration must be taken of their age, natureof the crimes for which they were committed,length of term, social standing, handicraft,profession, physical condition and their futureoccupation.

Article 36. Except those prisoners whose term of impri-sonment is less than one year, Prison authori-ties may let the prisoners working outsidethe prison premises if it is necessary.

Article 37. Suspending, or changing in the kind of labourshall not be effected without order of theSuperintendent of Prison.

Article 38. The number of hours during which the priso-ners shall be engaged at work shall neitherexceed the maximum of ten hours nor lessthan the minimum of seven hours per day,and shall be regulated with due considerationof the seasons, local conditions, prison build-ings and the kind of labour.Time expended on moral and intellectual in-struction, visit, inquiries, medical inspectionand physical drills shall be included in theworking hours.


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Article 39. The amount of the work to be done by pri-soners shall be regulated by grades, suchgrades shall be based upon the provisionsregulating working hours set forth in the lastpreceding Article and also upon the averageof labour as it could be done by any ordinaryworkman.

Article 40. Prisoners shall be exempted from working onthe following days :

1. National Holiday.2. Commemoration Days.3. The last two days of December.4. The first three days of January.5. Sunday afternoons.6. Seven days after the death of the pri-

soner's father, mother, grandfather orgrandmother.

7. Other days that may be deemed ne-cessary.

Article 41 . With the exception of the sixth item mention-ed above, the provisions given in the last fore-going Article shall not be applied to thoseengaged in domestic works.

Article 42. Theincome derivedfrom the labour donebypri-soners shall be paid to the National Treasury.


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II

Article43. Monetary reward shall be granted to pris-oners engaged in labour, but due considera-

tion shall be taken with regard to their con-duct, nature of crime for which they wereconvicted, and merits of their labour.

Article 44. Monetary reward granted to the prisonerssentenced to penal servitude shall not exceed30 % of the local rate of wages ; to thosesentenced to detention only not exceed 50 %.

Article 45. If any prisoner does damages upon instru-ments, materials or other articles intentio-nally, it shall be made good by drawing upontheir monetary reward account.In case of any prisoner escaping from Prisonthe balance due to him on the account ofmonetary rewards shall be partly or whollyconfiscated.

Article 46. Monetary rewards shall be paid to prisonerson their discharge. Where any prisonerrequests that his monetary rewards shall bedrawn for the support of his family or forcompensating those whom he has injured, ifthe accumulation of his savings exceeds thesum of ten dollars, the Prison authority may


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still pay him one third of the total amount onhis discharge.

Article 47. Prisoners who are injured or become ill orlose their ability or lives while in doing theirwork shall be pensioned according theirconditions.No pension shall be granted under the provi-sion of this Article, unless it is decided by theproper authority to grant on application ofPrison Superintendent.Chapter VI. Moral and Intellectual

Instructions.Article 48. To all prisoners under the age of 18 the intel-

lectual instruction shall be given, but tothose above the age of 18 such instructionshall only be given when desired or thePrison officer deems it necessary.

Article 49. Education shall be given to such prisoners attwenty four hours a week according the systemadopted by Primary Schools, and they shallbe taught with reading, writing, mathematics,composition and other important subjects.Those who have a literary standing may begiven such additional assistance as they mayrequire.


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13Article 50. Prisoners may be allowed to read books,

provided they are not of such a nature as todetrimental to Prison discipline or refor-matory methods.

Chapter VII. Feeding of Prisoners.

Article 51. Prisoners shall be given the necessary food,clothing and other articles, and due considera-tion shall be taken with regard to the cons-titution, age, labour, climate, local condi-tions, etc.

Article 52. Prisons shall be prohibited from the use oftobacco and intoxicating liquors.

Article 53. Prisoners shall wear grey uniforms.With the exception of uniforms, clothes andbedding may be provided by the prisonersthemselves if they are not of such a natureas to be detrimental to the sanitation anddiscipline of the Prison.

Article 54. During the exceedingly cold weather, heatingmay be supplied to the cells and other prisonbuildings. The time for the heating of hos-pital cells must be determined by the Supe-rintendents of Prisons.


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14Article 55. Food, clothing and other necessaries for

children who accompany their mothers maybe supplied by the latter.

Chapter VIII. Sanitation and Hygiene.Article 56. Prison premises shall be kept clean and in a

sanitary condition. Cells, clothing, waterclosets, buckets and all utensils shall becleaned at regular intervals.

Article 57. Prisoners shall take bath at regular intervals,fixed by Superintendents of Prisons accordingthe nature of the labour which they areordered to do, and other local conditions, butit shall not be less than once in every threedays, from April to September, and not lessthan once every week from October to March.

Article 58. Prisoners shall take physical exercise forhalf hour's duration every day, exceptingthose whose labour is of such a nature thatrenders physical exercise unnecessary.

Article 59. To all prisoners who become ill punctualmedical treatment must be given. Seriouscases may be sent into the sick ward.

Article 60. Prisoners having contagious diseases shall bekept in isolation. Nurses excepted.


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15Article 6i. Articles and utensils used by the prisoners

with contagious diseases shall be disinfectedor sterilised before they are given to otherprisoners for use.

Article 62. Whenever there is a prevalence of epidemics,restrictions that are necessary may be placedupon any person coming in or going out ofPrisons and also upon articles sent into Pri-sons for prisoners.

Article 63. Prisoners who are seriously ill may on con-sent given by Superintendents of Prisons, callin medical attendance at their own expenses.

Article 64. For the treatment of special diseases, PrisonPhysicians may secure the assistance of spe-cialists.This rule also applies to the treatment ofmidwifery cases.

Article 65. Women Prisoners who are pregnant, or aboutto be confined, and prisoners who are old,infirm, imbecile or incapacitated are aJl trea-ted as having illness.

Chapter IX. Visits and Correspondence.Article 66. Prisoners shall only be allowed to receive

the members of their own familv as visitors,


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but if there is any special reason, persons out-side of their own family may be allowed tocall upon them.

Article 67. Prisoners sentenced to detention, may receivevisitors once every ten days ; those sentencedto penal servitude, once every month. Theduration of an interview shall not be morethan thirty minutes, unless it is by the Su-perintendents of Prisons that an extension inthe length of time is necessary.

Article 68 .Interviews shall be conducted under the su-pervision of Prison officers. If there are col-lusions and actions not in accordance withPrison discipline, interview shall be discon-tinued at once.

Article 69. Prisoners shall only be allowed to corres-pond with members of their own family, butwhen there is any special reason personsoutside of their own family may be allowedto correspond with them.

Article 70. Unless it deems necessary, letters may bewritten by prisoners sentenced to detentiononce every ten days ; those sentenced topenal servitude once every month.


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17Article 71. Letters sent or to be received by prisoners

shall be inspected by the Superintendent ofPrison. Letters of collusive nature or notin accordance with Prison discipline shall notbe delivered.

Article 72. Postage aud other expenses for sendingprivate letters shall be paid by the sendersthemselves ; expenses for sending other lettershall be paid by the prison.

Chapter X. Deposition.Article 73. Personal effects of prisoners shall be inspec-

ted in the Prison Depositories for safe-keepingWorthless articles and articles that couldnot be preserved shall not be taken intoDepositories.If there is no direction given by the ownersof such articles as to their disposal, shall theybe destroyed.

Article 74. Prisoners may be allowed to have their per-sonal effects delivered over to their familiesprovided permission has been obtained fromPrison Officers.

Article 75. Prisoners may be allowed to accept articlessent to them from outside, provided the articlesare not of a nature against Prison discipline.


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18In case that such article are objectionable orwhen the sender's name is obscure or sucharticles are rejected by the prisoners, theyshall be confiscated or destroyed.Articles brought into Prisoners without per-mission shall be subject to the same treatment.

Article 76. All articles deposited for safe-keeping shallbe restored to prisoners upon their discharge.

Article 77. Upon applications made by families of decea-sed prisoners died in prison for taking per-sonal effects, money or other article left bythe deceased, the same shall be handed overto the applicant.After the expiration of one year from deathof any prisoner if no application is made allsuch personal effects, etc. mentioned aboveshall be handed over to the National Trea-sury. The same shall be applied to the per-sonal effects of escaped prisoners who havenot been apprehended within one year sincetheir departure.

Chapter XI. Rewards and Punishments.Article"^. Rewards and Punishments shall be executed

under the direction of the Superintendentsof Prisons.


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igArticle 79. Any prisoner who observes the rules of the

Prison shall be rewarded in one of the follow-ing ways :

1. by giving one additional chance to recei-ve visitors and correspond with others,

2. by giving extra monetary reward notexceeding one dollar per month,

3. by giving additional dish not more thanthree times in every ten days, but thecost of such additional dish shall not bemore than ten cents each time.

Article 80. Prisoners who render any one of the followingservice shall have a reward of a sum notexceeding twenty dollars.

1. Revealing a prisoner's plan of escape.2. Saving a life, or arresting an escaping

prisoner.3. Showing merit in time of danger.

Article 81. Prisoners who violate the Rules of the Prisonshall be punished as follows :

1. Reprimand.2. Suspension of privilege of correspon-

ding, receiving visitors and reading.3. Reduction of food from one fifth up to

three fifths.


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4. Suspension of physical exercise.5. Confinement in dark cell.6. Reduction of monetary rewards.

Above punishments may be inflicted at oneand, same time but. that which mentionedunder the items 3 and 4 may not continue onfor more than seven days, and that underitem 5 not more than three days. Item 2 to5 inclusive shall not be inflicted upon pri-soners under 18 years of age.

Article 82. Execution of such punishment may be suspen-ded in case the prisoner is ill or under otherspecial circumstances. Where the prisonerhas shown signs of repentance, he shall befree from such punishment.

Chapter XII. Pardon and Conditional Release.Article 83. Superintendents of Prisons may make ap-

plications on behalf of prisoners for theirpardon.Such applications shall be submitted to theMinistry of Justice through the procuratoratenotifying the punishment of the prisoner.

Article 84. Applications for pardons shall be accompa-nied by the report of the prisoner's conductduring the time when he is in the prison.


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Article 85. During the term of a prisoner's conditionalrelease the provisions set forth in Article 84shall apply.

Article 86. Even when a prisoner has been kept in theprison for a time long enough for applyingconditional release, if in the opinion of theSuperintendent of Prison he has not yetreformed, or when the majority of the chiefofficers of the prison at their conference donot return a report on his favour, no applica-tion for conditional release shall be made.

Article 87. Applications for conditional release shall besubmitted to the Ministry of Justice and shallbe accompanied by a report of conduct duringthe time when he is in prison.

Article 88. Prisoners conditionally released shall duringthe term of such release observe the followingRegulations :

1. The prisoner shall be engaged in somehonest occupation and conduct him-self in an honourable manner.

2. He shall be under the supervision ofthe prison authority. Such supervi-sion may however be entrusted by theprison authority to some police depart-


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ment or some other person or persons.3. When he is going to change his resi-

dence or set upon a journey whichwould last more than ten days, heshall first obtain the leave from theSuperintendent.

Article 89. If it comes to the knowledge of the Superin-tendent of Prison that a prisoner conditio-nally released ought to be dealt with accord-ing the provisions of Article 67 of the Crimi-nal Code, information to that effect shall besubmitted to the Ministry of Justice.

Article 90. If in the opinion of the Superintendent of Pri-son that such prisoner has violated the termsof Article 89, the same shall be reported to theMinistry of Justice, and such conditionalrelease shall at once be suspended.

Chapter XIII. Release.Article 91. All prisoners entitled to release shall be re-

leased by the Superintendent of Prison.Article 92. Prisoners shall be released on the day men-

tioned in the order for pardon or conditionalrelease or on the morning of the day followingthe expiration of his term as the case may be.


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23Article 93. Release of prisoner pardoned or to be con-

ditionally released shall be effected in dueform. In the case of prisoners to be condi-tionally released Certificates to that effectshall be issued to them.

Article 94. In the case of release on expiration of term,the prisoner shall prior to his release beconfined in a single cell for at least threedays.

Article 95. Travelling expenses and clothes shall besupplied to prisoners on release at the discre-tion of the Superintendent of Prison.

Article 96. Prisoners who become ill upon their releasemay be received at the Prison Hospital formedical treatment if necessary.

Chapter XIV. Death.Article 97. In case of prisoner died in Prisons, the corpse

of the deceased shall be inspected by the Supe-rintendents of Prisons and the Procurator.

Article 98. Records of illness with necessary particularssuch as name of deceased, cause and date ofdeath, shall be made by the prison physi-cians with their signatures and seals on.

Article 99. Families or persons related to such deceasedprisoners shall be notified as to the disease


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24causes and date of death, the same shall bereported to the Ministry of Justice.

Articleioo.Permission shall be granted on the applicationmade by the families of deceased for removingthe corpse.

Articleioi.In the absence of such applications as statedin the last foregoing Article, the corpse of thedeceased shall be buried after twenty fourhours having elapsed. Wooden tablets bear-ing the names of deceased and dates of deathsshall be erected at the places where the de-ceased are buried.

Chapter XV. Additional Rules.Articlei02.These rules shall come into force on the day

on which they are promulgated.

(5 O

Im'primerie de Vaugirard, H.-L. Motti, directeur, 12-13, impasse Ronsin, Paris.


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Documents

Rules for the government and administration of prisons in China