Captivity in a Chinese prison (detention center)

[alreadytaken]

I spend 4 months of hell experience in China's Shenzhen No 2. Detention Center.

China has very bad legal system and human rights...

I received a suspended sentence but in China bail is very rarely granted, the police told me "unless you suffer from mental illness, I see no reason to grant you bail." I was incarcerated before my trial. According to Chinese law, the police may detain a suspect up to 7 days for investigation, this is usually extended to 30 days(1 month) a total of 37 days. I've never seen anyone being released before the 30 day period, a suspect may seek for compensation for a wrongful arrest, therefore the police shall not let you go. Only after 37 days I was charged by the prosecutor, then you need to wait for 2-3 months for the court trial. Every detainee I've met at least spent 3-4 months in jail, the longest being 3 years, a murder suspect awaiting his final appeal. Only a country like China, the legal process is so long and horrible.

Now go on with the story:

Life in detention:

Every day's routine was basically the same, weekends being the worst (we have to clean up the whole cell completely during weekends) Serving time is really slow and painful, one would understand if he/she has been to prison before.

Detainees wake up at 7:00, we then have to fold our blankets. At 7:30 the gates open, we are led to the "outdoor chamber" to wash and brush our teeth. As I newcomer, I do not get a toothbrush, I was told that I have to memorize a set of "prison regulations" before I can get a toothbrush. Very inhumane, but rules are all set up by "jailhouse bullies", so requirements may differ from each cell. Bullies rather than the warden are put in charge of each cell.

Afterward we need to clean up the "outdoor chamber", we are given a brush to scrub the floor, water is then poured onto the ground, we need scrub it again, 2 times, until the bully tells us to stop. Everyone has to do the chores, except the bullies, their henchmen and few detainees with "special relationship". (Either bribed the guards or has been jailed long enough).

As a newcomer I was assigned to clean the toilet, I was given a brush and bar of soap to scrub the toilet basin for 30 minutes, twice a day. A henchmen stood beside me, I only stop when he told me to, and every time 30 minutes exactly.

At 8:00 breakfast is served, very bad congee, we line up and get our cups to fill it up. Food is served through a small "hole in the wall" by the chief. We have to find a place to squat down in the outdoor chamber to eat our food. We have to clean our cups afterward.

After breakfast, we have to sit on board and meditate, the warden will come for row call and inspect at about 8:30. Warden leaves, dismisses. We can now walk and exercise (but not run) in the outdoor chamber.

10:00 lunch is served. Food again terrible, mainly cabbage(sometimes turnips) and rice every fricking day, no meat. We get our bowls and line up for lunch, some get more, some get less, depends how much the chef serves you, usually rice more than vegetables (rice is cheap in China), badly cooked rice. You may get better food but you need to pay (talk about this later)

After lunch, cleanup time, heavier workload than breakfast, need to wash our bowls, scrub the floor, take out the trash...etc, really bad labor work, everything is done in the primitive method (no broom, no towel scrubbing the floor with a brush) 30 minutes to 1 hour. Again bullies and henchmen do not work but put in charge of others.

11:00 go inside for afternoon nap. I don't like to sleep after lunch, I have made truce with the bullies, they let me keep watch (to make sure no suicide or fighting is going on) while others go to bed. 1:45 wake up. I have to clap my hands and wake everybody up.

The metal doors open, once again we go to the outdoor chamber, to wash our faces. Go back in around 2:00, sit on the board and meditate, the warden comes for inspection again. This time period is much longer and sometimes we need to recite poems.

Around 2:00 (forgot exact time) we go out to the outdoor chamber for exercise, there are a set of "prison exercise" we must do, one inmate put in charge to lead us. Dismiss and free time again.

4:00 dinner is served. Only serve meat on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, which are only pieces of meat, terrible food, weekends always turnips or carrots. After lunch cleanup time. I have to wash the toilet again.

5:00 washing time in the outdoor chamber. Well no shower, everyone only gets a bucket to fill it up(cold tap water) to pour onto yourself. Really cold in winter, not used to it when I first get incarcerated, sometimes when the weather gets too cold I don't take a bath. We only get soap, bullies and henchmen gets to use shampoo and conditioner(I don't know how they get it, you can't buy it here, a privileged for them only.)

6:00 we need to get back inside. Gate closes, now we are locked up indoors. TV goes on for a short time. 6:30 warden inspection, TV turns off. Again sit and meditate.

When the warden leaves, free time, usually ask inmates to come out and sing or tell jokes.

7:00 TV comes back on, state news broadcast, really boring. Inmates may also play chess, cards or read during this period. Newcomers a lot of restrictions, not allowed to join in until I have learned the "prison regulations" just sit there to kill time.

8:00 TV soap opera, again boring but in prison you have nothing else to do, a lot of detainees sit around and watch, only 1 TV channel available.

9:00 Get ready for bed, get out our blankets. However it is not compulsory to sleep our lie down, TV still on.

10:00 Time for bed, TV turns off, lie down and sleep. Lights on 24 hours

Basically the same routine every day, now this is only prison life, I shall describe my feelings and relationship with other inmates which is much more complicated.

[roddy]

We all want to know what you did or didn't do.

[Lu]

I don't. None of my business if the OP doesn't want to tell. I would like to know some kind of way to proof or verify that the OP was indeed in prison, but that's probably not going to be something they want to say on a public forum.

[imron]

I'm actually curious about the OP's Chinese level (both before and after incarceration) and what effect (if any) being imprisoned had on it.

[roddy]

Maybe it's just me then.

Similarly there's this from 2009 - Danwei

[大肚男]

actually, I'm with Roddy. I'm curious about OPs nationality, what did he do, ultimate outcome.

also, this may sound awful to say, but after reading this,I don't agree that their prison system it's awful. bring in prison should be a punishment, to deter future crime.

[drencrom]

So, what did you do to get thrown in jail?

[roddy]

That wasn't his punishment though - that was just waiting for trial (in the UK, being on remand. If you're later jailed time spent on remand is deducted from the sentence.) His punishment was a suspended sentence.

[alreadytaken]

imron,

Yes, I noticed that article too, routine is very similar but there are many significant differences to it. Rules and condition may differ in different institutes but I guess that is how the system works in China.

大肚男.

I am American Chinese but I was charged as "Chinese citizen" with no exemption, stupid not to enter China with my US passport but they don't recognise due citizenship.

My "crime" is not actually considered a crime in any developed society, it's unbelievable if I told you how I got into this. It's not wise to publicise it as I don't know who may be reading my articles.

As for life in captivity, each day in jail seems like a year, in my cell are all kinds of people, thieft, assault, murder, college student, business owner, civil servant, even Hong Kong and Taiwanese citizen. A lot of them has a tragic story to tell, justice left unattended, China is lawless, my experience let me know how dark China's legal system is.

[roddy]

Continue your story, it's interesting. But to date the problems seem to be boredom, bad food and a bit of physical labour. No picnic, but hardly anything Amnesty is going to get too worked up about.

[Angelina]

It doesn't sound like a Dutch or Norwegian prison life, but you weren't abused either. Try to move on.

[Lu]

I am American Chinese but I was charged as "Chinese citizen" with no exemption, stupid not to enter China with my US passport but they don't recognise due citizenship.

I thought it was impossible to be Chinese and also something else. I wonder how you managed to keep your Chinese passport. But I suppose that's something for another thread. Btw, even if China would recognise that you had Chinese and also American nationality, to my knowledge that wouldn't have helped. If you have nationalities A and B and get in trouble in country A, country B won't (or can't) do anything about it formally.

[Ruben von Zwack]

The one thing that strikes me is why treatment seems so different. You hear stories about people disappearing and brutality, but then, the treatment which the OP got was arguably unpleasant, but not inhumane in my eyes. Same goes for the account that roddy provided in his link^.

[roddy]

If you have nationalities A and B and get in trouble in country A, country B won't (or can't) do anything about it formally.

Country B can't do much about it even if you are just a Country B national, assuming you're being dealt with according to whatever the local due process is. Generally I think you'll get a consular visit to check all as it should be, maybe some advice on lawyers, and your family might get some help facilitating visits. Depends on who and where you are, of course. We can add degree of consular assistance to the list of things we'd like to know.

[Lu]

Country B can't do much about it even if you are just a Country B national, assuming you're being dealt with according to whatever the local due process is. Generally I think you'll get a consular visit to check all as it should be, maybe some advice on lawyers, and your family might get some help facilitating visits. Depends on who and where you are, of course.

All those can be useful. The embassy or similar can also keep an eye on whether you're getting a fair trial and are not maltreated in jail. And if countries A and B have some relevant agreements, you might for example be able to spend your prison time in a prison in your own country.

[alreadytaken]

Wow, this post attracts a lot of attention. I'll try to answer your questions one by one later after the story.

roddy:

To go on..

Environment

Each cell consisits of 2 chambers, the "indoor chamber" where we sleep and an open roofed "outdoor chamber" where we can walk and exercise during the day. There are, however few chances for inmates to leave the cell, except being summoned by the warden, police interrogators or visit for an attorney. (Visits from family and friends are not allowed, only a lawyer may come and see you as according to Chinese law, suspects detained for investigation stage receive no visitors.)

In the indoor chamber, there are 2 ceiling fans, a squat toilet at the back, a clock and TV above the wooden platform(our beds), two surveillance cameras on opposite sides of the room, a fixed bookshelf and a fixture to put our toothbrushes and mugs. Detainees has to put their stuff according to their number. There is also a large billboard full of "prison propaganda".

Hygiene conditions are terrible, 25 people all packed in a tiny room, toilet stinks, if someone farts the whole air is filled with smelly odor, very hard for detainee to get cleaned due to the primitive washing methods. A lot of detainees has skin disease, I was lucky not to get infected, although there is a prison doctor, but the doctor only distributes medicine with no medical knowledge, the wardens care less about your health, they are only there to make sure you won't kill yourself. I've seen an old man sent to the hospital after a heart attack, in fact he complained about his condition few days earlier but no one gives a damn.

Human nature

In my cell, detainees ranging from minor to serious offense, there are inmates for fraud, theft, murder, assault and white collar crimes. A jailhouse bully is put in charge of each cell. Everyone must respect and obey the bulliy otherwise he/they shall give you a hard time.The bully recruits henchmen to maintain his rule. Henchmen are in a higher position, they are given better food, perform less physical labour and could beat and punish people without consequences. I've seen people put down their dignity to build loyalty, people revealing their true nature once promoted as "henchmen". When I was in better relations with the bully, the lapdogs tried to befriend me, when he disliked me, they harassed me. Detainess would befriend those on early release asking them to pass messages to family members but once leave no one would really care. I've learn not to trust anybody in jail as most try to build a relationship for a specific purpose, e.g pretending to act as a nice guy trying to win support.

To be continued

[roddy]

My "crime" is not actually considered a crime in any developed society, it's unbelievable if I told you how I got into this. It's not wise to publicise it as I don't know who may be reading my articles.

If it's nothing major you're might as well tell us - if anyone who knows you identifies you as the author of these posts, they might assume it was something worse that it actually was .

[Meng Lelan]

You were there for four months, how did you manage to get out? I assume you are now outside China. What age was the youngest inmate there?

[Angelina]

Seriously, try to start a new life! Where are you now? Are you in China? Can you get a job?

Do not get stuck with whatever happened to you. It was an unpleasant experience, so what. Life goes on.

Some people have written books on their time behind bars. These people are:

1. People who have a talent for writing, such as Dostoyevsky. Do you think you can write a novel than would be on par with what Dostoyevsky wrote?

2. People who have a sensational story. Did your cell mate die in your arms? What happened to you is pretty normal, you didn't suffer that much. You seem to complain about not eating enough meat, it might actually be good for you.

You should tell us more about where are you with your life right now.

[alreadytaken]

roddy

Because I've named the place, people could identify me, I was the only one charged with this crime in my cell, I don't know who might be reading this online.

Meng Lelan

I mentioned I've received a suspended sentence didn't I? The youngest was 18 year old, most inmates were 30 or above. I'll try to describe some of the inmates in the next post.

Angelina

Thank you, I'm leading a normal life now, people does not know what happened to me, so yeah things are staring to get back on track.

For the "sensational story", Yes I've met a lot of people with tragic events, some I believe is a miscarriage of justice, suffers because of China's inproper legal system. Although everyone will say they are innocent, as in the movie "shankshaw redemption" , it's up to you to decide.