Finally the truth came out in the "hide-and-seek" case that has aroused much media attention across the nation. After an initial false report by prison authorities and an unsuccessful investigation by a panel consisting of "representatives of netizens", the Yunnan Provincial Procuratorate announced last Friday that Li Qiaoming, the inmate who died in a prison in the province on Feb 8, was actually beaten to death by "prison bullies".

The Jinning detention house had previously claimed that Li died while playing hide-and-seek with other inmates. The incident sparked a public uproar as most accused prison authorities for covering up the truth.

The more outrageous, I think, is the fact that some prisoners were allowed to bully or even torture other inmates under the nose of the wardens.

Prisons and detention houses are places where criminals are supposed to be imprisoned and reformed to become law-abiding citizens. It is unbelievable that they can play the despot and do whatever they like within the State apparatus of punishment. Unfortunately it happens in some prisons.

Just three months ago, a court in Gansu province sentenced a "prison bully" to death and extended the term of two others because they had beaten another prisoner so severely that he sustained serious brain injuries.

In 2003, a similar incident shocked the nation. Eight prisoners in a reformatory in Huludao, Liaoning province, beat a fellow inmate every day for a whole month until he died.

One cannot help asking: "How come this phenomenon is tolerated in prisons?"

Lax management is undoubtedly the main reason. What is worse, however, is that wardens in some prisons appoint the most violent prisoners as "group leader" or "meeting convener" to help control other inmates. These designated leaders, often feared and revered as "Big Brother" by fellow prisoners, form gangs in the ward to bully weaker inmates or extort "presents" from them. The wardens turn a blind eye to their behavior.

An even more heinous case was revealed last month. The chief warden in Lingshui detention house in Hainan province took bribes from inmates and allowed some to change wards and extort weaker inmates.

The existence of such phenomena is particularly worrying. If all prisons were like the above-mentioned jails, how could we expect criminals to be reformed and society to become safer? It is not uncommon for released prisoners to become even more lawless than they were before they were imprisoned.

Certainly we have reasons to believe that the phenomenon exists only in a small number of reformatories in our country. But the problem should not be neglected. It is serious enough.

A search of relevant information shows that at least seven years ago, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly launched a campaign to "resolutely crack down on prison bullies and maintain order in detention houses".

The recent cases mentioned above indicate that the problem is far from being solved.

E-mail: liushinan@hotmail.com

About the author:

劉式南 高級編輯。1968年畢業于武漢華中師范學院（現華中師范大學）英文系。1982年畢業于北京體育學院（現北京體育大學）研究生院體育情報專業。1982年進入中國日報社，先后擔任體育記者、時政記者、國際新聞編輯、要聞版責任編輯、發稿部主任、《上海英文星報》總編輯、《中國商業周刊》總編輯等職。現任《中國日報》總編輯助理及專欄作家。1997年獲國務院“特殊貢獻專家政府津貼”。2000年被中華全國新聞工作者協會授予“全國百佳新聞工作者”稱號。2006年獲中國新聞獎二等獎（編輯）。