China to improve publicity of prison affairs

A vice minister of justice said on Friday that China will make administrative information about the country's prisons more widely available, a move to support judical reform.

Information should be open to criminals, their relatives and society at large, which helps promote civilized law enforcement, said Vice Minister Zhao Dacheng at a press conference.

Zhao said information concerning the rights and interests of inmates, prisoners' assessment, punishment and parole, as well as prison administration procedures should also be publicized.

"China will establish an improved, rational information dissemination system to tighten prison management and bring about a system of strict, just and civilized law enforcement," Zhao said.

Publicity will increase judicial transparency in accord with the spirit of the recent Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Zhao went on to say that China now has 235,000 lawyers and the number is expected to exceed 240,000 by the end of the year. The new revision of the Criminal Procedure Law has reiterated suspects' rights to hire lawyers for defense.

"The ministry is talking with the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security about regulations regarding lawyers' rights to defend, to guarantee the legal rights and interests of the suspects," Zhao said.

The ministry will be very severe on dishonest lawyers who disregard their professional ethics.