Q
29th November 2009, 12:48
http://chinaworker.info/get_img?NrArticle=916&NrImage=7
Olympic-sized race tracks, golf, and nightly home visits – prison life for corrupt officials
Take a look at the picture below. Could it be a new luxury housing complex or conference centre? It is in fact a prison in Jiangsu province largely reserved for officials convicted of corruption or other abuse of power.
This and other photos have triggered a major scandal as netizens rail against the lifestyle of China’s “red aristocracy” – the corrupt officialdom of the misnamed Communist Party. These revelations have dented regime claims that it is finally “striking hard” against corruption in high places. Yancheng Prison in Jiangsu is an exclusive newly built prison whose main building is modelled on the U.S. White House. It boasts an Olympics-sized running track, a conference centre, luxury offices, and potted plants by every cell door. Another prison in Suzhou has six new outdoors basketball courts, splendid gardens and an artificial river. Yet another prison at Qingyuan in Guangdong province has “trees and carefully-trimmed shrubs” inside the building!
Publication of photos of these luxury prisons has generated a wave of criticism and ridicule on the internet, while at this stage it appears the buildings are empty. Netizens have compared their opulence with the “tofu schools” that collapsed like card houses in last year’s Sichuan earthquake.
“I would like to spend my holidays there,” wrote one blogger. Another posted the following joke about how the prison budget meeting probably went: “Right now we have some funding. Should we use it to build schools or to improve the conditions in jail? Everyone think whether you’re going to spend any more time in school in the future… now we vote.”
But it is the news that many fallen “cadres” (government officials) continue to enjoy a lavish lifestyle even in disgrace that has caused outrage. Former Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu, perhaps China’s most infamous jailbird, reportedly has en en suite cell measuring 20-square-metres. Newspaper reports say he receives four meals a day, including a late-night snack, costing 6,000 yuan a month – twice the average income in Shanghai. Chengdu official Ma Jianguo reportedly went to banquets, slept at home and enjoyed unlimited use of his mobile phone during his spell behind bars. Prison officers colluded with and even served corrupt officials the media reported.
Source (http://chinaworker.info/en/content/news/916/)
Olympic-sized race tracks, golf, and nightly home visits – prison life for corrupt officials
Take a look at the picture below. Could it be a new luxury housing complex or conference centre? It is in fact a prison in Jiangsu province largely reserved for officials convicted of corruption or other abuse of power.
This and other photos have triggered a major scandal as netizens rail against the lifestyle of China’s “red aristocracy” – the corrupt officialdom of the misnamed Communist Party. These revelations have dented regime claims that it is finally “striking hard” against corruption in high places. Yancheng Prison in Jiangsu is an exclusive newly built prison whose main building is modelled on the U.S. White House. It boasts an Olympics-sized running track, a conference centre, luxury offices, and potted plants by every cell door. Another prison in Suzhou has six new outdoors basketball courts, splendid gardens and an artificial river. Yet another prison at Qingyuan in Guangdong province has “trees and carefully-trimmed shrubs” inside the building!
Publication of photos of these luxury prisons has generated a wave of criticism and ridicule on the internet, while at this stage it appears the buildings are empty. Netizens have compared their opulence with the “tofu schools” that collapsed like card houses in last year’s Sichuan earthquake.
“I would like to spend my holidays there,” wrote one blogger. Another posted the following joke about how the prison budget meeting probably went: “Right now we have some funding. Should we use it to build schools or to improve the conditions in jail? Everyone think whether you’re going to spend any more time in school in the future… now we vote.”
But it is the news that many fallen “cadres” (government officials) continue to enjoy a lavish lifestyle even in disgrace that has caused outrage. Former Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu, perhaps China’s most infamous jailbird, reportedly has en en suite cell measuring 20-square-metres. Newspaper reports say he receives four meals a day, including a late-night snack, costing 6,000 yuan a month – twice the average income in Shanghai. Chengdu official Ma Jianguo reportedly went to banquets, slept at home and enjoyed unlimited use of his mobile phone during his spell behind bars. Prison officers colluded with and even served corrupt officials the media reported.
Source (http://chinaworker.info/en/content/news/916/)