Inmates bribed guards: report

Guards offered alcohol, privileges and food prepared at local restaurants to prisoners at Tieling Prison in exchange for bribes, the People's Daily Online reported Monday, a few days after a drug trafficking case there came to light.

The Prison Administrative Bureau of Liaoning Province said Monday it had sent an investigation team to Tieling, and prison leaders are also looking into the allegations.

Officers at Tieling Prison sold alcohol to prisoners, charging the wealthiest more, an alcohol supplier to the prison guards told the media outlet. Prisoners were sometimes charged several hundred yuan for alcohol worth a small fraction of the price.

According to the media report, guards delivered items to prisoners without being properly examined. The guards also bought prisoners food they had ordered from nearby restaurants.

The guards also gave the prisoners who paid bribes with certain privileges such as being excused from labor and making unlimited phone calls to families and friends.

An unnamed inmate told reporters he paid guards 20,000 yuan ($3,230) to have a relative who was serving time in another prison to be transferred to Tieling Prison.

Authorities announced April 9 that they had smashed a smuggling ring responsible for trafficking drugs in Tieling Prison on January 17. The official investigation said that no prison guard had taken part in the unlawful activity.

A note dated March 12 posted on a bulletin board in the prison reads that guards are strictly forbidden from privately providing prisoners with items for daily use.

Even though the management of the prison became stricter after the drug-trafficking case, officers continued accepting bribes, disguising alcohol in water bottles, the People's Daily Online report said.

According to China's prison law, goods or money provided to a prisoner must be approved and examined by prison officials.

The law also states prisons must conduct an investigation into the criminal responsibility and issue administrative sanctions if a guard accepts money or other goods from prisoners or their relatives, or privately delivers forbidden articles to a prisoner in violation of regulations.

Global Times - Agencies