Laogai

Laogai (劳改/劳改, Pinyin laogai, abbreviation of劳动 改造/劳动 改造, Lao Dong gǎi Zao, reform through labor ' Chinese) is a system of labor camps in the People's Republic of China. The Laogai camps are labor camps, in which prisoners sentenced by the courts to serve their sentence. Prisoners in administrative detention spend his sentence in the rule in labor camps with the name Laojiao.

Laogai camps and Laojiaos

In the Chinese legal system, there are two different types of sentencing. A defendant can be occupied by a police authority with administrative detention or sentenced by a court of law either. Prisoners in administrative detention serve their sentence in the rule in labor camps with the name Laojiao (translated: " re-education through labor" ), who condemned by ordinary courts prisoners serve their sentences in labor camps called Laogai (translated: " reform through labor " ).

While the system of administrative detention in China is as much to unregulated in the political debate, the criminal law the Laogai camps based was quite clearly designed. The entire modern judicial system in China is still very young and there is still a lack of experienced, well-trained lawyers.

Number of prisoners in China

Overall, there are approximately 1.4 million prisoners in China, so it is a prisoner to about 950 inhabitants, of these 1.4 million inmates are 400,000 inmates in administrative detention. In the U.S., the ratio is a prisoner to 143 inhabitants, in the Federal Republic an inmate to 1357 inhabitants.

Status of the courts in China

But that clearly embodied criminal law does not guarantee a secure protection against political interference in the courts, especially as a self-conscious judicial system is only very young. Although the level of training of judges as well as their self-confidence in the last 15 years has improved massively, while in 1995 only 5 percent of the judges had a college degree, many officers were off duty, they were in 2005 already half. At the beginning of the reform era, there were 3,000 lawyers, in 2007 there were 150,000. Usually the courts function become quite good, but there are always political interventions Cadre proceedings against politically inconvenient citizens. The Chinese proverb: "The police cooks the food, the prosecutor served it, and the court eats it " is only partially overcome, especially in the rural areas not yet reached the level of the big cities is reached.

Convictions with political background

In the year 2007 742 citizens were convicted of " crimes against state security ", " publication of state secrets ", " incitement to riot " or the like. In 2006, there were 344 convictions. In addition, there is then, however, a number of unreported cases of convictions inconvenient citizens go about the estimates differ widely. The organization Amnesty International is based on the above figures and will not establish your own that goes beyond those figures. Amnesty International declared that the situation for other figures to be unclear and focuses in his criticism on documented individual cases.

Ill-treatment in the Laogai camps

Physical abuse, as well as torture is banned in China, as well as the Chinese government repeatedly emphasized. There are in the Chinese camps but again these cases of abuse. Every now and then though a brutal overseer will be punished, but this happens rarely. Inmates have a lobby neither in population nor by the government. In large parts of Chinese society, there is the opinion that thieves and other " scum" are once punished vigorously protests will not hear you. " Unruly " inmates can still expect a lot less understanding in China. In addition, there are too few good police officers who would work for the offered payment in the labor camps as overseers. So there are in the camps, the so-called semi - policeman. These are often former unemployed or laid-off soldiers, strike quickly with little training, poor pay and with the reputation.

Export revenues from forced labor

China generates revenue from the export of products of forced labor, partly at dumping prices and via the Internet. The U.S. does not deny their import, the European Union, however.

Concluding remark

In essence, the Laogai camps are an instrument of the penitentiary system with legally clear task. There are the labor camps for convicted criminals. In these camps, but also people whose conviction was politically motivated, detained. Although physical abuse as well as torture in China is banned, those political prisoners who the government considers its most dangerous enemies are so often abused that " Amnesty International " behind speculates that more than a single offense overseers.