Beyond the cage

The moment I learned that I would be joining a media tour of several detention centers and prisons in Shanghai, ominous images popped out immediately in my head: prisoners with sinister smiles, ferocious prison guards, and a beastly warden hiding under human form.

Yes, these are what prisons can be made to look like in Hollywood movies.

But would it really be surprising that prisons in developing countries could be something like these? Or even worse? I asked myself.