The legal rights and interests of people in custody are well protected by law, says a white paper on China's human rights progress in 2004 issued on Wednesday by the Information Office of the State Council.

The white paper says in 2004, the Ministry of Public Security and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly planned, organized and launched a drive to build "model units for strengthening the enforcement of surveillance and legal supervision, and for guaranteeing smooth criminal proceedings and the legal rights and interests of detainees" in all the detention houses throughout China.

Consequently, a large number of model detention houses have emerged with advanced facilities, standard law enforcement and humane management, the white paper says.

The system of meeting public procurators has been generally established in detention houses. Supervision over food, health care and epidemic prevention for detainees has been strengthened.

The system of informing detainees of their rights, the system of open procuratorial work and visit system have been improved.

By the end of 2004, the Chinese procuratorial organs had set up 77 sub-procuratorates in large prisons or areas where prisons and reeducation-through-labor camps are concentrated, and over 3,700 procuratorial offices in medium-sized and small prisons, reeducation-through-labor camps and detention houses.

Procurators have been dispatched to over 90 percent of China's prisons, detention houses and reeducation-through-labor camps. The supervision system is being improved step by step, the white paper says.