Public procurators are helping to stop torture and other abuses in China's prisons, according to China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (CSPP).

Procurators monitoring prisons, detention centers and reform-through-labor camps have unveiled 11,260 cases of prisoner abuse in the last four years since 2002. They have resolved 10,793 cases and prosecuted 425 people involved in 388 cases, show figures from the CSPP, the highest procuratorial organ of China.

Illegal activities involve mainly torture and extortion, miscalculation of prison terms and improper commutations of sentences, and release on probation.

The Organic Law of the People's Procuratorates of China stipulates that procuratorates have the right to supervise enforcement of verdicts and activities in penal institutions. Procuratorates must also inform appeal courts if they find any criminal cases are tried and judged improperly. They are also held responsible for monitoring and reporting illegal activities in institutions.

Procuratorates have been stationed in penal institutions since 1978, said Zhao Hong, deputy procurator-general with the CSPP.

Last year, 75 procuratorial departments with 1,432 procurators were operating in 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to monitor 243 prisons, 78 reform-through-labor centers and 21 detention houses, said Bai Quanmin, an official with the Supreme People's Procuratorate, on Monday.

The heads and their deputies of the 75 procuratorial organs are rotated every five years while rank and file procurators are moved every two years to prevent them developing improper relationships with prison officers.

China ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1988.

The procurators' work showed that the government had established a dual supervision mechanism to protect the rights of prisoners and those in custody, said Prof. Hu Wei, of prestigious Shanghai Jiaotong University.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2006)