Three inmates recaptured, one shot dead

• Source: Global Times
• [03:16 October 21 2009]
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Prisons tightens security

Wang Lijun, deputy director of the Prison Management Bureau, said Tuesday that the authorities will carry out an investigation into how the prison-break was made possible and release results to the public.

Chen Baoquan, spokesman for Inner Mongolia, said management loopholes were to blame for the inmates' escape, without elaboration, adding that an evaluation of prison management was underway.

No personnel at the prison have been suspended or punished so far for the escape, Chen told the Global Times.

"A better picture of how they masterminded the prison-break and managed to eventually escape will be available after interrogation," Chen said.

According to details revealed by Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, the prisoners, who were carrying out their routine labor, stole the uniform and access ID of a correctional officer they seized and bound with rope. One of the prisoners got through the first gate, wearing the uniform, with the other three following behind.

When an officer noticed the situation, they killed him with a paper knife they had stolen and cut off one of his fingers, which they used to the open the fingerprint-sensitive main gate. They wounded a security guard at the gate before managing to flee westward in a taxi they commandeered on the street.

Wu Zongxian, director of the Institute for Crime and Correction at Beijing Normal University, told China Central Television that negligence by guards and a failure of the identity-recognition system at the prison might be the major causes that led to the prisoners' escape.

Prisons and labor camps across the nation have been urged to carry out thorough inspections in the wake of the prison-break in Hohhot.

In an urgent online notice published Monday, the Ministry of Justice ordered check-ups of prison management procedures, security measures and equipment in an effort to avoid similar incidents from happening again.

Zhang Futai, an officer at No. 4 Prison in Nanyang, Henan Province, told the Global Times that security measures were tightened after the incident.

"We conducted an inch-by-inch search for potentially dangerous tools in the prison, including unfolding the quilts and stretching out the beds of prisoners," Zhang said. "The reports of the Hohhot incident were relayed to prisoners here as a warning."

"In fact, with supervisory and recognition systems in place, our prison's security measures have always been tight, and violent criminals are held separately from non-violent prisoners," Zhang said.

Qiu Wei and An Baijie contributed to this story