TIME: China will begin to separate suspects arrested for minor offenses from violent criminals as part of a series of proposed reforms to its detention system announced this week. The system has been under fire for months, following a series of at least 15 suspicious deaths in China's extensive system of prisons and jails this year. Lawyers and human-rights advocates welcomed the proposed changes, announced Nov. 9, which also state that detainees must be informed of their rights, can't be forced to do labor and can't be forced to pay for their detention costs. If the proposals are instituted, police or judicial officials would have to inform suspects' families within 12 hours of their detention.
In February, after 24-year-old Li Qiaoming was beaten to death by jail inmates in the southern province of Yunnan, officials said his killing was sparked by a game of hide-and-seek. The dubiousness of that explanation prompted an online outcry from concerned citizens and promises from Beijing of a nationwide review.
But experts caution that China still needs a wholesale examination of how its legal system handles detainees. A report released Nov. 12 by New York–based Human Rights Watch describes a system of "black jails" in Beijing and provincial capitals that operate outside the law, though with the implicit approval of police and judicial officials. ...MORE
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