Black Jails
黑监狱(hēijīanyǜ)
Related buzz words:
Group event/Petitioner/Eliminating local government representative offices in Beijing

"黑", hei, is black; it refers to the color, but also refers to things that are bad, evil or illegal. "监狱", jianyu, means "jail". "Black jails" refers to jails that are illegal and run by bad people.

The birth of black jails begins from the central government's decision to eliminate local government representative offices in Beijing. In the past, the local government representative offices served as a place where petitioners could go to voice their problems. One of the reasons the offices were closed was to stop local petitioners from contacting ministerial officials or media organizations that are located in Beijing. Due to the office closure, a new method to deal with petitioners was needed, giving birth to black jails.

One black jail was registered as a security service provider: The Beijing Anyuanding Security Company. It recruited 3,000 young men to serve as security guards and rented houses and hotels to detain justice-seekers travelling to the capital from their local provinces. Those people would then be tortured by the company and sent back to their hometown. The company would also get paid by local governments who wanted to stop those petitioners from spreading their wrong doings to the central government or the media. For example, some justice-seekers have had their houses expropriated by local governments without their approval. To express their anger, some attempt suicide, but things remained uncorrected, so they have no choice but to go to Beijing to seek justice.

Fortunately, as more and more media outlets began to expose the existence of black jails, the Beijing police finally decided to shut the Beijing Anyuanding Security Company down. However, the public still doubts whether the heads of the company will actually receive punishment since their company continued to function despite continual reports against it. More people are worried that even once the Anyuanding Company disappears, there will still be black jails with new names and new forms, as long as local governments keep viewing petitioners as "trouble-makers" and treating them like "criminals".

Related links:

Newspaper Shines a Light on Beijing\'s Black Jails