Pilot program set to improve rights inspections of prisons

A pilot program to introduce random inspections of prisons will be established in July in eight provinces and municipalities to further improve supervision, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Thursday.

The inspections will focus on the education and labor rehabilitation of inmates, the supervision of security precautions, the prevention of inappropriate restraint and confinement and the protection of inmates' legitimate rights, said Wang Songmiao, a spokesman for the top prosecuting body.

Prosecutors will also review evidence for parole and sentence-reduction hearings, as well as hearings for inmates applying to serve their sentences outside prison - open only to pregnant women and new mothers, severely ill individuals, and disabled people in need of full-time care - whom they will also help supervise, Wang said.