Monitoring system reinforced in prison

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-10 09:49

KUNMING -- Southwest China's Yunnan Province plans to invest 45 million yuan (about $6.6 million) to improve prison monitoring systems after an inmate was beaten to death in February, local authorities said Thursday.

The plan was launched on March 19 as a three-month campaign, said an official of Yunnan Public Security Department.

The provincial government will invest 15 million yuan (about $2.2 million) and another 30 million yuan (about $4.4 million) will be provided by local governments of lower levels, the official said.

An earlier investigation showed that 30 percent of the prisons in Yunnan had not been equipped with any monitoring facilities, the official added.

"Any blind zones in prisons will be put under 24-hour supervision by the end of September," the official said.

An inmate, Li Qiaoming, in Jinning County of Kunming, capital of Yunnan, who allegedly died during a "hide-and-seek" game on February 8, was later proved to have been beaten to death by another three inmates.

The three inmates colluded to fabricate a reason for Li's death, claiming he struck the wall himself in the game while the monitoring devices of the prison failed to provide important evidence as they had been out of work for more than half a year.