Deadly breakout poses prison security questions
- Source: Global Times
- [03:59 October 27 2009]
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Escapee Gao Bo, 27, was shot dead in Horinger county, Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, on October 20. Photos: CFP
By Xie Ying and Yin Hang
An October 17 prison break that began and ended in death led to a 66-hour police chase across Inner Mongolia and an upcoming checkup on all the prisons of China.
It began with four young convicts killing a prison guard with a paper knife, cutting off his finger and using it with his gate pass card to escape through four stages of security gates of the Hohhot No 2 Prison.
It ended with one hostage in an uncertain medical condition, one prisoner shot dead, another seriously injured from a failed suicide attempt, two finally captured and a giant question mark hanging over the security of prisons.
"Prisons in China have relaxed their vigilance on most occasions in security monitoring," Yu Guodan, professor at the Criminal Justice School of China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.
Vigilance was too expensive, prison police sources reportedly told Chinese media. Few young people want to work in prisons and the current prison police almost all work overtime and have to sleep in prisons for at least one third of the nights a year, one police source reportedly argued.
Staff shortages and other problems have lead to many irregular practices in prisons, according to Yu. They came to light through this prison break, he said, noting closely how the methods the prisoners used had exposed loopholes in prison management.
Hohhot Prison No.2 Governor Zhang Heping has been dismissed from his post and other officials like the deputy Party secretary and deputy directors were also disciplined for gross neglect of duty, Xinhua News Agency reported Monday. The Ministry of Justice required that prisons across the country conduct a thorough investigation of potential loopholes in their management and facilities immediately after the prison break happened.
Meanwhile, the Chinese media and the public await answers to many unresolved questions revealed by the shocking breakout of four murderously violent criminals.
For example, an ordinary worker – not a prison guard – manned the fourth and last gate the prisoners crossed. The escapees broke out of the gate by stabbing him, according to a Beijing News report.
