Minister of Justice Wu Aiying yesterday said that punishment for
crimes is incomplete without rehabilitation and called for more
counseling in prisons.
"Prisons should offer inmates psychological programs to help
their rehabilitation," the minister told the national prison work
conference.
Prisons in the country started offering inmates psychological
services in 1989, but the practice has only recently been
implemented on a large scale.
Ministry figures show that prisons across the country offered
2.7 million counseling sessions to inmates last year. All prisoners
received a psychological evaluation when first entering jail, and
were also offered individualized consultations based on the
evaluation.
Psychological programs can help prisoners maintain good mental
health, and prevent them from turning to crime again, said Gao
Zebo, a senior official from the ministry's prison administrative
bureau.
"Inmates with psychological help often have a better chance at
rehabilitation," he said.
He added that offering prisoners help also helps maintain order
by reducing quarrels and physical fights in the prison.
Gou Zhixian, deputy director of Beijing's Dongcheng District
Jail, said inmates receive a psychological evaluation at least once
a month. In addition, the guards are also evaluated regularly and
taught criminal psychology.
Yang Huaiyin, a guard, said his colleagues -- each of whom
supervises about 30 inmates -- often feel pressure caused by fear
that the prisoners might hurt themselves or fight. "We would be
fired if any of them commits suicide," he said.
China has about 280,000 police officers working in jails, 85
percent of them college graduates. Each has a month of specialized
training every three years, according to the ministry.
In addition, figures released yesterday show that 95.15 percent
of the country's 1.5 million inmates received vocational training
last year, 65.82 percent awarded certificates.
Additionally, more than 180,000 prisoners secured higher
education diplomas last year.
Chinese prisons have 3,785 libraries with more than 8 million
books, 1,587 multi-media classrooms, 1,257 amateur performance
troupes, and 63,695 sports teams, according to the most recent
figures.
(China Daily March 29, 2007)