Pictured is the first female detention center in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province in October 2014. A total of 180 inmates have been held in the center. Photo: CFP

 A 17-year-old from Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province has claimed that he was raped by another prisoner while in detention and that administrators ignored his complaints.

The incident has highlighted China's problem with sexual assault behind bars. Experts and lawyers have said that such attacks are not unheard of, though it is not clear exactly how common it is because statistics on prison rapes are not collected.

Attacked by roommate

Xiao Xiang (pseudonym) told officials of Wenzhou's Lucheng district public security bureau that he was sexually assaulted by another inmate in a detention house while he was incarcerated there for embezzling charity money.

 "At first, I was kept in Room 207 but I was moved to Ye Kenong's room. Ye sexually assaulted me five times in a month … I've still got a bruise on my ankle from when Ye pinned me on the bed," Xiao Xiang told the Global Times.

Ye, 52, was sentenced to life imprisonment for dealing drugs and was kept in Lucheng detention house during his appeal.

Xiao Xiang said that Ye claimed to be the "administrator" of the room, would touch him inappropriately and sometimes slept next to him at night.

Xiao Xiang said that he informed Luo Jining, who was responsible for supervising the detention house, about Ye's behavior but was told that this kind of thing was common among inmates and that he shouldn't report it again.

 "Ye enjoyed some privileges in the detention house, including smoking. He might have some guanxi (connection) with police officers here," said Xiao Xiang.

After staying in the Lucheng detention house for four months, Xiao Xiang was transferred to a juvenile reformatory in Hangzhou in March and was then released in May.

Xiao Xiang said that he described his experiences to the director of the detention house, who noted Xiao's complaint and said that he would report it to his superiors.

The Lucheng public security bureau released an announcement on its official Weibo account on Tuesday, saying that it has begun an investigation into Xiao's case.

The director of the publicity department of the Lucheng public security bureau surnamed Cao told the Global Times that the police will investigate the case in accordance with relevant rules and later release the result to the public.

Cao refused to reveal any specific details about the investigation.

Newly illegal

Xiao said that he was not the only one who was sexually assaulted in the detention house, but didn't reveal the identity of any other victims of prison rape.

Although Xiao Xiang's claims still need to be confirmed, the incident should raise concerns over sexual assault in detention houses and prisons, according to an editorial published in The Beijing News.

The editorial also mentioned that "sexual assaults among inmates" have been a long-running problem in the public security system.

According to the regulation on the code of conduct of inmates released by the Ministry of Justice, prisoners' performance evaluation will be affected if they have sex with each other.

Li Fangping, a lawyer from Beijing Ruifeng Law Firm, told the Global Times that sexual assaults among inmates are difficult to expose since prisons are a relatively closed world and it is not easy to investigate and collect evidence.

Sexually assaulting men, which was not previously listed as an offense under the law, was made illegal by an amendment to the Criminal Law that took effect in November.

The amendment, adopted by the top legislature in August 2015, stipulates that indecently assaulting others, men or women, now carries a maximum sentence of five years behind bars. In the former law, the clause "others" simply read "women."

Many victims of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault may feel too embarrassed about being raped by someone of the same gender to report attacks, Li said.

Mao Lixin, a lawyer with the Beijing-based Shangquan Law Firm, told the Global Times that police officers in the detention house who are supposed to keep order could be held responsible for failing to do their duty if Xiao Xiang's claims are found to be true.

Mao added that Xiao Xiang could sue the detention house for covering up the rapes. None of the police officers in the Lucheng detention house, including Luo Jining, could be reached as of press time.
Newspaper headline: Rape behind bars