Certain prisoners in China will be set free if a proposed draft is passed. (Photo : Google)
In a continued effort by the CPC to prevent corruption in the country, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in its newsletter that a new batch of government officials visited local prisons in Shiyan, Hubei Province, on May 15 to see for themselves the lives of convicted officials behind "high walls and steel windows."
Some 70 officials joined by their wives participated in the obligatory prison tour, which lasted for an entire day. They met face-to-face with 15 detained ex-officials who are generally found guilty of, at least, one form of corruption, such as bribery.
The group also spent time examining the pictures of the prisoners and reading their profiles and personal accounts in a permanent exhibition held at the prison grounds. A collective sigh could be heard every time the group would see familiar faces, such as those of their former superiors and contemporaries.
Inside an auditorium, some inmates went on stage and read before the visitors their individual testimonials. They revealed the events that led to their downfall and imprisonment, described how their families suffered as a consequence of their action and talked about their prison life.
These enforced private tours of prisons are nothing new.
In an article that appeared on its website in 2013, CCDI said that prison tours have been taking place since 2008, and almost 340,000 officials already experienced them in Beijing Prison.
In Aug. 2014, nearly 200 officials of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had a firsthand account of life in prison when they visited Yancheng Prison in Jiangsu Province and Beijing Prison.
When President Xi Jinping assumed office in Nov. 2012, part of his mandate has been the launching of a nationwide anti-corruption campaign. The prison tours are part of it, and CCDI said that they principally serve as "educational warning" to all officials in all levels of the government.
The stern warning extends to all those holding high positions in government-owned corporations as well as to their immediate family members up to their extensive families. That is why it is only but normal for spouses of officials and senior managers to involve themselves in prison tours.
President Xi's anti-corruption campaign has been realizing its aims. At present, graft charges have already been filed to more than a hundred officials, both "tigers and flies," as the president would refer to high and low-ranking officials when talking about corrupt people.
