Black jails
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black jails (Chinese: 黑监獄; pinyin: hēi jiānyù) are a network of extralegal detention centers established by Chinese security forces across the People's Republic of China in recent years. They are used mainly to detain, without trial, petitioners (shangfangzhe), who travel to seek redress for grievances unresolved at the local level. The right to petition was available in ancient China, and was later revived by the communists, with important differences.
Black jails have no official or legal status, differentiating them from detention centers, the criminal arrest process, or formal sentencing to jail or labor camps. They are holding locations for the large numbers of petitioners who go to the Beijing Office of Letters and Calls to petition, and may be retrofitted hotels, storerooms, or vacant apartment buildings.[1][2]
The jails were introduced to replace the Custody and Repatriation system after it was abolished in 2003 following the notorious Sun Zhigang incident. The existence of such jails is denied by CCP officialdom.
According to human rights groups, black jails are a growing industry. The system includes so-called 'interceptors',[3] often sent by local or regional authorities, who abduct petitioners and hold them against their will or bundle them onto a bus to send them back to where they came from.[4] Non-government sources have estimated the number of black jails in operation to be between 7 and 50. The facilities may be located in state-owned hotels, hostels, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, residential buildings, or government ministry buildings, among others.
The most well known black jail is the Beijing Ma Jialou,[5] the official name is Ma Jialou Beijing petitioners aid center.