The Beijing Women's Prison, located in Daxing County, is the only place for the city to imprison adult female inmates. More than 900 women who were found guilty and sentenced to various imprisonment terms by courts are jailed there.

Life in the women's prison, in most people's eyes, is somewhat mysterious, or even, horrible. But in inmate's own eyes, life is simple and calm in prison. Some even find fun and hope there.

"When I just came here, my mother got an opportunity to talk with me through telephone. She asked me nervously if I had enough food in prison and if the jailers and other inmates beat me," said Zhu Baocao, an inmate in the prison who was sentenced six-year imprisonment for public money embezzlement four years ago.

"Actually, prison life was not that terrible. I had been here for more than four years. Every morning, we ate deep-fried dough sticks or steamed stuffed buns as breakfast. Lunch consisted of one meat dish and one vegetable dish, as well as a bowl of steamed rice. And dinner included vegetable dishes and steamed bread," said Zhu.

She also claimed that she had never been beaten by others and when she got cold, jailers took care of her considerately.

"But I was in deep depression when I first came here. I graduated from a prestigious university and then got an accountant post in a state-owned grain processing enterprise. I had a decent life in the past. When I heard the court ruling, I thought my life was totally ruined," Zhu said.

"Jail staffs often talked with me and they invited psychologists to give me treatment. Later on, I became a little bit optimistic and calm, and devoted myself to writing. My articles were frequently carried on "the New Voyage", the prison's newspaper. I also learned about tailoring, electrical engineering and hair cutting in prison and got four technician certificates" Zhu continued.

In Beijing Women's Prison, established in 1999, 41 percent inmates were imprisoned for committing economic crimes, just like Zhu, 25 percent committed violent crimes, such as homicide and robbery, 7.9 percent committed drug trafficking crime. And 24.8 percent graduated from university or college.

Li Ruihua, warden of the prison, said the prison had advanced medical facilities and qualified medical staff, so that every inmate could receive regular physical examination and has his or her own medical record.

Not only inmates suffering cold could receive timely medical treatment, but also an inmate who suffered cancer was well looked after in the prison, she said.

In her opinion, giving inmates technical training is one of most important issues, because when they are released, they will be capable of independently making a life and serving the society.

Therefore, the Beijing Women's Prison offers training classes of computer technologies, flower arrangement arts, hair cutting, electrical engineering and wood sculpture.

Zhao Xiaojie, an inmate originally a staff in the Forbidden City, taught other inmates wood sculpture. Now she already had 20 students in the prison.

"Teaching others in wood sculpture enriched my prison life and helps me commute imprisonment term," she said.

Zhao made up herself lightly, making her face brilliant. "We were allowed to make up at weekend, or on at days to meet with family members. And in every prison room there is a mirror for inmates," she said.

The inmates can have a talk with family members once a month, an inmate, surnamed Nie, said.

"Every month, the prison gave us six yuan to eight yuan as pocket money. If not enough, I asked my family members to deposit some on a bank card which could also be used in the supermarket of the prison, so life here was OK," she said.

Inmates lived in different sections of the prison according to the time length of their imprisonment. Each section has a library, a meeting room, a psychological treatment room and an entertainment room.

Inmates can go entertainment rooms to play cards or chesses on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. They also have free talks there, sometimes about their families and sometimes on their past experiences. Psychological treatment room was for depressed inmates relieving under the help by psychologists or jailers.

"Psychological treatment was very necessary for us. Actually, most inmates suffered depression at different levels when they just came to prison. And some inmates experienced family tragedies during imprisonment," said inmate Liu Yan, who originally worked for the Beijing Agricultural Bank and was sentenced life imprisonment for embezzlement.

"My mother died of cerebral haemorrhage, mostly because she could not bear the fact that her daughter was a prisoner, and probably a prisoner for the whole life. I was in desperation when hearing about her death. It was psychotherapy that help me get out of the tragedy," she said.

Warden Li said the prison employed several part-time psychologists to help jailers tackle mental problems. In her opinion, mental treatment was important for prison administration.

The Ministry of Justice has also called on more than 700 prisons in the country to launch psychological treatment for inmates, so as to help inmates lead a healthy life in prison.

Source: Xinhua