Helping to prepare prisoners for outside world

BEIJING - Prisoners in China are “corrected” before their release from jails by an institution which help the inmates lead a new life without committing crimes again.

The Sunshine Halfway House, a “community correction institution” in Beijing that was established two years ago, helps prisoners prepare for the outside world, China Daily reported.

As the first of its kind in China, the 200-bed facility, is formally known as the Sunshine Community Correction Service Center. It is an institution that has been replicated dozens of times nationwide since it opened.

Zhang Shun (name changed), 62, is living a quiet life in the facility, where he devotes much of his time to his antique collection.

Zhang, who is serving the final two years of a 10-year stretch for fraud, says the groundbreaking institution is getting him ready for his eventual release.

“Were it not for the Sunshine Halfway House, I would be away from normal life and society and may return to crime after I am released,” he said.

Beijing began working on the idea of community correction facilities in 2003.

More than 811 former inmates of Sunshine Halfway House have benefited and been released without committing crimes again in Chaoyang district of Beijing, according to Rong Rong, director of the Justice Bureau of Chaoyang district.

“Community correction is a bridge connecting the offender’s past with his future,” said Rong. “It enables the offenders to get skills and knowledge necessary for a smooth return to the community and society.”

Before the centre opened, prisoners were released straight from maximum security institutions to the community and many went back to their old ways after experiencing problems that included difficulty in finding work, said Zhang Jingsheng, the centre’s chief officer.

To address the problems, the centre provides transitional accommodation and a stipend from the Red Cross. Staff help inmates apply for low-rent housing and subsistence allowances. Besides, the centre’s labour education and assistance department helps offenders get the skills they need to find work.

Throughout the training and rehabilitation work, the nine correction officers at the house live alongside the offenders and help them with their day-to-day development.

Before offenders can take their training courses, they must first take psychological and physical checks. Prisoners also get feedback on their efforts and praise when it is due.

“I am happy to see the changes in these people,” Rong said. She said she often receives calls from former inmates who are doing well in the outside world.