Lighting a long, dark tunnel

Li Yanming is bald, brawny and has an icy stare. The 27-year-old jokes that he looks like a stereotypical gangster - which is not far from the truth. He was jailed in 2002 for robbery but was released early in 2006 to serve time at a community correction center in southern Beijing's Daxing district.

He has recently been conducting interviews with the media to tell them why he decided to donate hemopoietic stem cells and help save leukemia patients.

Li, along with 26 offenders from Daxing Sunlight Community Correction Service Center, donated their stem cells in December and their actions moved 170 volunteers to do the same.

"We used to hurt others and harm society, but all of us sincerely want to be accepted and make people understand our longing to return to a normal life," Li says.

"But we can't wait for the public's attitude to change first. Before that, we need to respect ourselves and show people our sincerity," says Pan Rui, organizer of the stem cell donation program.

Pan, an ex-offender established "Love Navigation Station" in 2004, with the support of Daxing Justice Bureau. It is a non-governmental organization that aims to help rehabilitate offenders through counseling.

Pan, from Jilin province, studied law in Beijing and became a lawyer in 1996. He says the death of his father led to a breakdown.

"I couldn't accept the reality that my father, a doctor, died in a traffic accident," Pan says. He started drinking to deal with his grief.

In June 1999, Pan had been drinking with friends at a restaurant and insisted on driving a friend's car. He was speeding when he hit another car and the driver, a military officer, was killed.

Pan was fined 130,000 yuan ($18,000) and imprisoned for three years, in Liaoning province. During those dark days many prisoners told him their concerns that society wouldn't accept ex-cons and they could not get jobs.

"They were desperate and some planned big crimes, like robbery and kidnap after being released," Pan says.

He tried to encourage his prison mates to go straight and promised he would try his best to help them.

In 2002, Pan was released and returned to Beijing. He planned to find a new job. In his resume he was honest about his criminal record, but was met with refusal.

"There was widespread discrimination. Even I couldn't find a job. How could my mates in prison?" he says.

At the beginning of 2004, Daxing Justice Bureau established its Daxing Sunlight Community Correction Service Center.

Du Guanghui, was responsible for the work of the community correction program that established 31 volunteer stations around the area.

"Community correction is a complex process It was a huge project that required time, money and people. It needed the participation of different government departments and social groups," Du says.

Around the same time Pan rented a room and established a hotline offering his help. At first, he seldom received calls, but after his story was reported in the press, he received over 20 calls a day. Daxing Justice Bureau helped Pan rent a 2-story office for his Love Navigation Station to help counsel offenders and aid rehabilitation and offered 20,000 yuan a year to run it. Pan undertook the psychology courses to hone his skills.

"Pan was the perfect partner. He has helped a lot of convicts be more positive," Du says.

Typical of the kind of calls Pan received was one from a man saying he was nave. "How can you expect people to treat us fairly?" the caller said, adding his wife had broken her leg in an accident, but the factory they worked in refused to give them a medical subsidy because he was an ex-offender and they were not registered workers. He wanted revenge.

Pan calmed the man and said he was a lawyer and he could help. He went to the man's factory and finally persuaded the owner to offer some financial succor to the couple.

"When I went to the man's home and saw his wife crying and blaming her husband, I realized that what I was doing meant a lot to people in need," Pan says.

Han Dan, 25, was sentenced to three years in prison for harboring her boyfriend, a fugitive who was involved in a murder. She was suffering from mental problems and prison was aggravating the symptoms.

When she went to Daxing as part of the community program, she escaped several times and didn't contact anyone for weeks. Du and his staff looked for her in vain.

Pan then went to Han and left her a book he had written, without saying anything.

"I read the book and found there was no moralizing, or beautiful language, just his personal experience and true feelings," Han says. She started talking to Pan and overcame her psychological problems.

Last year, Daxing Justice Bureau helped Pan rent a field in a rural area to plant vegetables in a greenhouse. Offenders work there and are paid. Now, Pan and his Love Navigation Station are receiving support from a broad section of society, from student volunteers to companies.

To date, Daxing has received 1,325 offenders. Of these, 752 have served their sentences and returned to their communities. The system has been replicated in other Beijing districts.

"When darkness fell I often hid myself and cried. Now, there is a light in my heart," Pan writes in his blog.

(China Daily 01/17/2008 page20)