The government is preparing to regulate its compensation practices after the People’s Congress, the country’s legislative body, passed the Law the People’s Republic of China on State Compensation October 27 in Beijing.The newly approved law requires the government to award monetary compensation for injuries and deaths caused by public servants.
An inmate subject was “abused to death” earlier this year in Yunnan Province. The local police said he died while playing hide-and-seek (duo mao mao) with the other inmates: the absurdity of the claim sparked the fury of many nezens.
An investigation proved the man had been abused. His attackers were sentenced and imprisoned, local police and their co-conspirators were criticized and the man’s family was compensated
The new law further defines state compensation. Concerning the use of force on inmates, the new law shows relatively little tolerance. It states that jailed suspects and prisoners have the right to seek government compensation for wrongful injury and death.
Abuse is still a reality in some of the country’s prison systems, either at the hands of police or other detainees.Detained suspects who are found to be not guilty are also required to be compensated.
It also allows convicted prisoners the ability to subtract their days in jail from the ultimate duration of their sentence. Those who would serve less than one year in prison after the subtraction will be allowed to carry out their sentence in detention rather than be transferred to prison.
