Adhering to the Bangkok Rules: Norway’s Largest Women’s Prison
In March, Dui Hua staff visited Bredtveit, Norway’s largest women’s prison. Having toured the grounds and met with prison staff and incarcerated women, Dui Hua believes Bredtveit has implemented many of the provisions in the UN rules for the treatment of women prisoners (the Bangkok Rules) and become a model for rehabilitative corrections.
Diminishing Returns: Aging in Prison
The US and China are facing demographic challenges from aging populations, and the trend is particularly acute in prisons—the number of “elderly” prisoners in both countries combined may exceed 100,000. Dui Hua previously highlighted the indignity and costs of requiring people to confront aging and illness behind bars. This article considers recidivism and efforts to make elderly prisoners eligible for leniency in sentencing.
Photo credit: Pan Xiaoling, Southern Weekly
China and Norway: Renewing Dialogue with Preventive Detention
2012 marks the 15th anniversary of the accomplished, if recently tongue-tied, Sino-Norwegian Human Rights Dialogue. According to a dialogue veteran Dui Hua met earlier this year, preventive detention (forvaring) was once a topic of interest and criticism for Chinese delegates. In the spirit of the dialogue and the rights of detained people, this article discusses the controversially indefinite sentence.
Photo credit: Kristoffer Ronneberg
Ching Cheong: Journalist, Prisoner, Activist
As a Hong Kong native and chief China correspondent for Singapore’s Straits Times, Ching Cheong (程翔) was taken into custody by Chinese authorities in Shenzhen on April 21, 2005. Ching stayed in custody for nearly three years before the Chinese government responded to Hong Kong and international pressure and released him on parole. This article discusses Ching’s experience and, more generally, the treatment of prisoners in China.
Prisoner Update: Clemency in Guangdong
In March, Chinese government sources updated Dui Hua on the status of six people incarcerated in Guangdong. All but Guo Li (郭利), charged with “extortion” in connection with the 2008 tainted-milk scandal, have received clemency. The remaining five include American citizen David Dong Wei (董维), businessmen charged with “espionage” amid choppy Cross-Strait relations, and “illegal business activity” involving Falun Gong books.
Photo credit: RFA, Guo’s family
A briefing on recent trips to Europe and Beijing, including attendance at the 19th Human Rights Council, plans for the third juvenile justice exchange, and our celebration of five years in Hong Kong.