Laogai
Láogǎi is different from láojiào, or re-education through labor, which was the abolished administrative detention system for people who were not criminals but had committed minor offenses, and was intended to "reform offenders into law-abiding citizens".
[3][4][5] During the 1950s and 1960s, Chinese prisons, which were similar to organized factories, contained large numbers of people who were considered too critical of the government or "counter-revolutionaries".
In the 21st century, critics have said that Chinese prisons produce products for sale in foreign countries, with the profits going to the PRC government.
The West's criticism of the laogai is based not only on the export of products made by forced labor, but also on the claims of detainees being held for political or religious violations, such as leadership of unregistered Chinese House Churches.
[13] However, Chinese criminal law still stipulates that prisoners able to work shall "accept education and reform through labor".
[14] The existence of an extensive network of forced-labor camps producing consumer goods for export to Europe and the United States became classified.
In 1992, Wu created the Laogai Research Foundation, a human rights NGO located in Washington, DC.
Commonly stamped on the uniforms are the Chinese characters for fan and lao gai meaning "criminal" and "reform through labor," respectively.
[27] These minimums do not meet the needs of the prisoners, who must purchase underclothes, socks, hats, and jackets with their monthly earnings of 2.5–3 yuan (US$0.37–US$0.44 as of April 11, 2009).
Every 2 weeks, the prisoners receive "a special meal of pork broth soup and white-flour steamed buns".
Important Chinese holidays, such as New Year's, National Day, and the Spring Festival, are celebrated with meat dumplings, an exception in an otherwise meatless diet.
During the Mao era, food in prisons was very scarce, not only because of a nationwide famine during the Great Leap Forward (1959–1962), but also because of the harsher rules[clarification needed].
Cases were documented of prisoners eating "field mice, crickets, locusts, toads, grapevine worms, grasshoppers, insect larvae and eggs, and venomous snakes".
[26] Early leaders of the CCP realized the power of withholding food from rebellious prisoners and, until recently, this practice was very common.
Basic essentials, such as a toothbrush and toothpaste, toilet paper, soap, and towels were not provided; prisoners had to spend their wages to acquire them.
These welts itched, and severe cases led to inmates scratching their skin raw, leading to dangerous infections.
The prisoner Zhang Xianliang wrote that "the parasites on a single inmate's underpants would be as numerous as the words on the front page of a newspaper".
[26] Along with a poor diet came many diet-related diseases: beriberi, edema, scurvy, and pellagra were the most common, due to lack of vitamins.
These two were often left untreated and, added to the continuous strain of 12 hours of manual labor, weakened the immune system.
The brainwashing that occurred over the amount of time people were imprisoned could be so intense that they were driven to insanity and, in many cases, suicide.
Once at the worksite, the captain delegates production responsibilities ... At lunchtime the zhiban arrives pulling a handcart with a large tub of vegetable soup, two hunks of cornbread for each prisoner, and a large tube of drinking water ... after about 30 minutes, work is resumed until the company chief announces quitting time in the evening.
At 7:30 p.m., the 2-hour study period begins... At 9:30 p.m., no matter what the weather, all prisoners gather together outside the barracks for roll call and a speech from the captain.
[26] Working conditions in Laogai camps are substandard:[citation needed] Investigators from the Laogai Research Foundation have confirmed sites where prisoners mine asbestos and other toxic chemicals with no protective gear, work with batteries and battery acid with no protection for their hands, tan hides while standing naked in vats filled 3-feet deep with chemicals used for the softening of animal skins, and work in improperly run mining facilities where explosions and other accidents are a common occurrence.
However, the Chinese government considers Laogai to be effective in controlling prisoners and furthering China's economy.
Laogai facilities of all levels are established as tools representing the interests of the proletariat and the people's masses and exercising dictatorship over a minority of hostile elements originating from exploiter classes.
