中华人民共和国监狱法
Prison Law of the People's Republic of China

（Adopted at the 11th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the eighth National People's Congress on December 29， 1994， promulgated by Order No. 35 of the President Of the People's Republic of China on December 29， 1994， and effective as Of the date of promulgation）
颁布日期：19941229 　实施日期：19941229 　颁布单位：全国人大常委会

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Prison

Chapter III Execution of Criminal Punishments

Section 1 Putting in Prison

Section 2 Handling of Petitions， Complaints and Accusations Made by Prisoners

Section 3 Execution Outside Prison

Section 4 Commutation of Punishment and Release on Parole

Section 5 Release and Resettlement

Chapter IV Prison Administration

Section 1 Separate Custody and Separate Control

section 2 Guard

Section 3 Use of Restraint Implements and Weapons

Section 4 Correspondence and Meeting with Visitors

Section 5 Life and Health

Section 6 Rewards and Punishments

section 7 Handling of Crimes Committed by Prisoners During the Term of Imprisonment

Chapter V Education and Reform of Prisoners

Chapter VI Education and Reform of Juvenile Delinquents

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is formulated in accordance with the Constitution for the purpose of correctly executing criminal punishments， punishing and reforming Prisoners， preventing and reducing crimes.

Article 2 A prison is an organ of the State for executing criminal punishments.

Criminal punishments of prisoners sentenced to death penalty with a two-year suspension of execution， life imprisonment， or fixed-term imprison-ment shall be executed in prisons under the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law.

Article 3 A prison shall， with regard to prisoners， implement the principle of combining punishment with reform and combining education with labour， in order to transform them into law-abiding citizens.

Article 4 A prison shall exercise supervision and control over prisoners according to law， and shall， in accordance with the needs of re-forming prisoners， organize prisoners to engage in productive labour and conduct ideological， cultural and technical education among prisoners.

Article 5 Activities in prison administration， execution of criminal punishments， and education and reform of prisoners conducted according to law by the people's police of a prison shall bb protected by law.

Article 6 A people's procuratorate shall exercise supervision in accordance with the law over the legality of activities conducted by prisons in execution of criminal Punishments.

Article 7 Human dignity of a prisoner shall not be humiliated， and his Personal safety， lawful properties， and rights to defence， petition， com-plaint and accusation as well as other rights which have not been deprived of or restricted according to law shall not be violated.

A prisoner must stirctly observe laws， regulations， and rules and discipline of the prison， subject himself to control， accept education and take part in labour.

Article 8 The State shall ensure the expenditures of a prison for there form of prisoners. The prisons' expenditures for the people's police， for the reform of prisoners， for the living expenses of prisoners， for the administration and installations of the prison， and other special expenses shall be included into the State budget.

The State shall provide production facilities and production expenses necessary for prisoners to do labour.

Article 9 Lands， mineral resources and other natural resources used by a prison according to law as well as properties of a prison shall be protected by law； no organizations or individuals shall seize or undermine them.

Article l0 The department of judicial administration under the State Council shall be in charge of the work of prisons in the whole country.

Chapter II Prison

Article 11 The establishment， abolition or move of a prison shall be subject to the approval of the department of judicial administration under the State Council.

Article l2 A prison shall install one warden， several deputy wardens， and， in light of the actual needs， set up necessary working organs and provide other administrative personnel.

The administrative personnel in a prison are the people's police.

Article l3 The people's police of a prison shall strictly abide by the Constitution and the law， be loyal to their duties， enforce the law impartially， strictly observe discipline and be honest and upright.

Article l4 The people's police of a prison shall not commit any of the following acts：

（l） to demand， accept or seize money or goods from prisoners or their relatives；

（2） to release a prisoner without authorization or through dereliction of duty to cause a prisoner to flee from the prison；

（3） to use torture to coerce a confession， or to use corporal punish-ment， or to maltreat a prisoner；

（4） to humiliate the human dignity of a prisoner；

（5） to beat or connive at others to beat a prisoner；

（6） to utilize a prisoner to provide labour services for personal gains；

（7） to privately deliver a letter or an article for a prisoner in violation of regulations；

（8） to illegally surrender the functions and powers to supervise and control prisoners to another person； or

（9） other law-breaking acts.

If the people's police of a prison commit any act specified in the pre-ceding paragraph and the case constitutes a crime， the offenders shall be crime， the offenders shall be given administrative sanctions.

Chapter III Execution of Criminal Punishments

Section 1 Putting in Prison

Article l5 With respect to a criminal who is sentenced to death penalty with a two-year suspension of execution， life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment， the people's court shall serve the notice of execution of the sentence and the written judgment on the public security organ where the criminal is in custody. The public security organ shall hand the criminals over to a prison for execution of the punishment within one month from the date of receiving the notice of execution of the sentence and the written judgment.

Before a criminal is handed over for execution of the criminal pun-ishment， if the remaining term of his sentence is not more than one year， the Criminal punishment shall be executed by the detention house instead.

Article l6 A people's court shall， in handing over a criminal for execution of the criminal punishment， serve on the prison a copy of the bill of prosecution from the people's procuratorate together with the written judgment， the notice of execution and the registration form of closing the case from the people's court. The prison shall not put the criminal in pris-on without receiving the above-mentioned documents； if such documents are incomplete or have errors in the records， the people's court which passed the effective judgment shall， without delay， make them complete or correct； if any of the above-mentioned circumstances may lead to wrongful imprisonment of a person， the prison shall not accept him.

Article l7 A prison shall give physical examination to the criminals who are handed over for execution of their criminal punishments. A criminal sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment may， after physical examination， temporarily not be put in prison under either of the following circumstances：

（1） if a criminal is seriouly ill and needs to be released on parole for medical treatment； or

（2） if a criminal is a pregnant woman or a woman who is breast-feed-ing her own baby.

With respect to a criminal temporarily not to be put in prison as pro-vided in the preceding paragraph， the decision on temporary exectution out-side prison shall be made by the people's court which handed the criminial over for the execution. With respect to any such criminal whose temporary execution of the sentence outside prison constitutes a danger to the society， he shall be put in prison. If a criminal temporarily serves his sentence out-side prison， the public security organ in the place of the criminal's residence shall execute the criminal punishment. After the circumstances specified in [he preceding paragraph under which a criminal is temporarily not put in prison disappeared， the criminal who has not completed the execution of his original term of sentence shall be handed over to a prison for imprisonment by the public security organ.

Article l8 When a criminal is put in prison， his or her body and the articles brought with him or her shall strictly be checked. The non-daily necessities shall be taken care of by the prison for the criminal or with the agreement of the criminal be returned to his or her families， and contra-band goods shall be confiscated.

A female criminal shall be checked by a people's policewoman.

Article l9 A criminal may not bring his or her child with him or her to serve sentence in prison.

Article 20 After a criminal is put in prison， the prison shall inform the criminal's family members. A written notice shall be sent out within five days from the date when the criminal is put in prison.

Section 2 Handling of Petitions， Complaints and Accusations Made by Prisoners

Article 21 If a prisoner is not satisfied with the effective judgment， he may file a petition.

A people's procuratorate or a people's court shall without delay handle the petitions filed by prisoners.

Article 22 A prison shall without delay handle the complaints or accusations made by prisoners， or transfer the above material to a public security organ or a people's procuratorate for handling. The public security organ or the people's procuratorate shall inform the prison of the result of its handling.

Article 23 A prison shall transfer without delay the petitions， com-plaints and accusations made by prisoners and shall not withhold them.

Article 24 In the course of execution of the criminal punishment， if a prison believes on the basis of a prisoner's petition that the judgment maybe wrongfully made， it shall refer the matter to a people's procuratorate or a people's court for handling. The people's procuratorate or the people's court shall notify the prison of the result of its handling within six months from the date of receiving the prison's written recommendation for handling.

Section 3 Execution Outside Prison

Article 25 If a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment serving his sentence in prison complies with the conditions for execution outside prison as provided by the Criminal Procedure Law， he may be permitted to temporarily serve his sentence outside prison.

Article 26 For temporary execution outside prison， a written recommendation shall be made by a prison and submitted for approval to the administrative organ of prisons of the province， autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government. The organ granting the approval shall notify the public security organ and the people's court making the original judgment of the decision on the approval of the tem-porary execution outside prison， and send a duplicate of its decision to the people's procuratorate.

If a people's procuratorate considers that it is improper to apply tem-porary execution outside prison to the prisoner， the people's procuratorate shall send its written opinions within one month from the date of receiving the notice to the organ that approved the temporary execution outside prison. The said organ shall， upon receiving the written opinions from the people's procuratorate， conduct forthwith reexamination and reverifica-tion of its decision.

Article 27 If a prisoner temporarily serves his sentence outside prison. the public security organ in the place of the prisoner's residence shall execute his sentence. The prison that originally held the prisoner in custody shall promptly inform such public security organ of the prisoner's performances of reform in prison.

Article 28 After the circumstances causing temporary execution outside prison disappeared. if the prisoner has not completed his term of sentence， the public secirity organ in charge of the execution shall without delay inform the prison to put the prisoner back into prison： if a prisoner has completed his term of sentence， the prison that originally held the prisoner in Custody shall handle the formalities for the release if a prisoner died during the period of temporary execution outside prison， If a prisoner security organ shall， without delay， inform the prison that originally held the prisoner in custody about the death.

Section 4 Commutation of Punishment and Release on Parole

Article 29 if a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment has shown true repentance or rendered meritorl-ous service during the term of imprisonment， his sentence may be com-muted on the basis of the result of the assessment made by the prison. If a prisoner has rendered one of the following major meritorious services， his sentence shall be commuted：

（l） having stopped a grave criminal activity of another person；

（2） having reported a grave criminal activity inside or outside prison which has been ascertained to be true；

（3） having made an invention or a major technical innovation；

（4） having risked his or her life to save others in daily production or life；

（5） having made remarkable performances in fighting against natural calamities or in avoiding or removing grave accidents； or

（6） having made other major contributions to the State or the society.

Article 30 A recommendation for commutation of a sentence shall be made by a prison to a people's court. The people's court shall within one month from the date of receiving the written recommendation examine it and make a ruling thereon； if the case is complicated or the circum-stances are special， the said period may be extended by one month. A du-plicate of the ruling on commutation of a sentence shall be sent to the people's procuratorate.

Article 3l Where a prisoner sentenced to death penalty with a two-year suspension of execution comforms with the conditions for com-mutation to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment as provided by the law during the period of suspension of execution of his death penalty. the prison holding the prisoner in custody shall make a timely recommendation for commutation upon expiration of the two-year suspension of execution and report it first to the administrative organ of prisons of the province， autonomous region or the municipality directly under the Cen-tral Government for examination and verification， and then submit the matter to the higher people's court for a ruling.

Article 32 Where a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment conforms with the conditions for release on pa-role as provided by the law， the prison shall， on the basis of the result of its assessment， make a recommendation for release on parole to the people's court. The people's court shall， within one month from the date of receiving the written recommendation， examine it and make a ruling thereon； if the case is complicated or the circumstances are special， the said period may be extended by one month. A duplicate of the ruling on parole shall be sent to the people's procuratorate.

Article 33 Where a people's court has made a ruling on parole， the prison shall parole the prisoner as scheduled and issue him a certificate of parole.

A parolee shall be supervised by a public security organ. Where a parolee during the period of parole commits any acts in voilation of laws， administrative rules and regulations or the regulations of the public security department under the State Council on the supervision and control of parolees， if such acts do not constitute a new crime， the public security organ may make a written recommendation for the cancellation of parole to the people's court. The people's court shall within one month from the date of receiving the written recommendation examine it and make a ruling there on. Where the people's court has ruled to cancel the parole， the parolee shall be handed over to the prison for custody by the public security organ.

Article 34 If a prisoner does not satisfy the conditions for commutation or parole as provided by the law， the prisoner shall not be com-muted or paroled on any ground.

If a people's procuratorate considers that a ruling on commutation or parole made by a people's court is improper， it may lodge a protest within the time limit specified by the Criminal Procedure Law. With respect to the case protested by the people's procuratorate， the people's court shall try it anew.