On how to deal with the relationship between prison production, education reform, safety and stability

Prison production has experienced more than 50 years, during which it has experienced many twists and turns. The hard work and painstaking efforts of several generations have created historic achievements in prison production. Today, how to face the new era, new tasks and new requirements, how to keep pace with the times, meet challenges, constantly reform and innovate, and promote the continuous progress and development of prison work, prison production work is duty-bound.

I. Historical review

In the early days of the founding of New China, faced with the situation that the number of prisoners increased sharply, the detention places were full, and the new regime was under great pressure, President Mao Zedong made a statement in May of 195 1 that "a large number of prisoners who should be sentenced to prison are a huge labor force. In order to reform them, solve the difficulties in prisons and prevent the counter-revolutionaries who were sentenced to prison from making a living, we must immediately start organizing labor reform". The important instruction of "three goals" not only answers the basic question of why prison production should be carried out, but also determines two basic functions of prison production, namely: first, reforming criminals; The second is to create material wealth and ensure the normal operation of prisons. Chairman Mao's important instructions of "Three Orientations" have promoted the large-scale establishment and development of prisons in China, and also promoted the large-scale development of prison production.

In the prison production history of more than 50 years, in the first 30 years, under the planned economy system, prisons only had factories and farms, and prison production was completely regulated by the state plan, without independent production and operation. 1In the early 1980s, with the development of reform and opening up, prison production was gradually introduced to the market. Due to its own limitations (including special industries, remote areas, outdated equipment, backward technology, shortage of funds, institutional contradictions, labor constraints, etc.). ), prison production obviously can not meet the requirements of marketization. In the past 20 years of market-oriented reform and development, prison production has gone through an extremely difficult course. In 2002, the State Council approved the Ministry of Justice's reform policy of "full guarantee, separation of supervision and enterprises, separation of revenue and expenditure, and standardized operation" and the guiding opinions of the reform pilot. Through a series of measures, such as funding guarantee, system reform, digesting problems left over from history and adjusting prison layout, prison work will be oriented to the value core of "strengthening prison reform function and improving the quality of criminal reform", and prison production will return to the basic function of reforming criminals. Generally speaking, in the course of more than 50 years' reform and development, prison production has experienced the transformation from the means of reforming criminals to the means of prison survival, and then from the means of survival to the means of reform.

In the 40 years before the mid-1990s, the prison production in Qinghe Branch was mainly agricultural production, supplemented by industrial production. 1In the middle and late 1990s, with the deepening of prison system, the adjustment of prison layout and the separation of prison and enterprise, the situation of agricultural production, resource management and prison processing industry gradually formed, and the prison processing industry gradually established its dominant position. In July 2002, according to the reform policy of "16" of the Ministry of Justice, the strategic shift of "decentralization to centralization, outside prison and inside prison" was completed, and all prisoners were transferred to prison, and resources outside prison were implemented.

"Centralized and unified management", prison production turned to processing production in prison, the reform of prison specialized departments, and the return of prison work functions and prison production functions. Throughout the 54-year prison production development process of Qinghe Branch, it has also experienced the transformation process from transformation means to survival means to return to transformation means. The prison production in Qinghe Branch for 54 years has not only created wealth for the country, but also provided rich labor posts and means for the reform of criminals, and made positive contributions to the cause of supervision and reform.

However, we must be soberly aware that with the development of the new situation, the development of prison production in our department has been far from meeting the development and needs of society. How to develop prison production, how to carry out prison production and how to give full play to the role of prison production as a means of transformation have become unavoidable problems at present and in the future.

Second, the difficulties and problems faced by prison production

From the analysis of the present situation of prison production in our department, there are mainly the following difficulties and problems.

one

The industrial structure is single, the technical content is low and the benefit level is not high.

Since the implementation of "two transfers" in 2002, our branch has been engaged in the production of 38 processing projects, and only 13 project is reserved at present. There are only seven projects that can maintain long-term stability in the past five years, among which only four projects, such as printing, tofu making, garment processing and wool weaving, belong to technical labor processing projects. From the analysis of the number of criminals and industrial benefits, football sewing has always been in the leading position of "outshining others". At present, there are about 2500 criminals engaged in football sewing in our branch, accounting for 58% of the total number of prisoners, and the processing income accounts for more than 50% of the total annual income; There are about 750 criminals engaged in technical jobs, accounting for 17% of the total number of prisoners, and their labor income accounts for about 20% of their annual income.

Generally speaking, first, enterprises or backbone enterprises that are dominated by manual processing industry and have no advantages themselves are affected or restricted in many aspects, such as labor projects, labor posts, labor means, and labor task security. Many times, we do what others give us, and we do what others give us, lacking initiative and controllability. Second, the technical content of industrial projects is low, and simple actions are repeated in most cases. The operational skills and production management level of police officers are not improved, and the same management actions are repeated again and again; Criminals can't learn a skill, and they repeat mechanical labor all day. The police have no pressure and criminals have no motivation, so it is difficult to mobilize the enthusiasm and initiative of managers and managed people. Third, the labor efficiency is not high. On the one hand, we are mainly engaged in simple labor processing, but also subject to people, lacking the right to speak, and low economic benefits are inevitable; On the other hand, the defects of simple industry, monotonous technology, backward technology and low skills can not meet the needs of improving the quality of criminal labor reform.

two

There is a big gap with the need to implement and protect human rights in prisons.

China has a relatively complete legal system for the protection of human rights in prisons, which is based on the Constitution and centered on the prison law, and is composed of criminal law, criminal procedure law, state compensation law and other relevant laws and regulations. Among them, there are only 33 articles in the prison law that directly or indirectly involve the rights of criminals. Prison human rights closely related to prison production include the right to life, property, health, development and labor protection. Among them, the problem of criminals' right to development is the most prominent.

The right to development of criminals includes the right to education and the right to resettlement and relief after release. Among them, the proper placement of criminals after their release from prison is a prominent problem. Whether criminals can be properly placed after release is directly related to the right to life and survival as the foundation and core of human rights, and also directly related to the problem of recidivism. After being released as a vulnerable group and returning to society, criminals should receive more attention from the society in terms of employment and resettlement in a certain period of time. This kind of care is obviously based on human rights protection and humanitarianism. However, this kind of care must not be based on sacrificing social equity, public interests and the rights and interests of other citizens. Therefore, whether criminals can get proper placement and employment after release, and whether they can survive and develop stably for a long time mainly depends on whether they have the ability to adapt to society and meet social needs. During the detention of criminals, many rights such as freedom of life, social communication, employment choice, development and promotion are restricted or deprived according to law. Therefore, through prison production, improving prisoners' cultural knowledge level, correcting malignancy, renewing ideas, cultivating skills and improving technical ability and level are the inevitable requirements of prison human rights, especially prisoners' right to development, and also the important content of supervision and reform work. However, there is still a big gap in China's current prison production situation, including industrial structure, management level, technical content, skill level and training conditions, which restricts the role of prison production reform means and the implementation and protection of prison human rights.

three

There is a big gap with the adaptability of criminals to return to society.

It is an inevitable problem for criminals to return to society, and cultivating the adaptability of criminals to return to society should be an important content of prison education reform. The basic essence of modern punishment in China is free punishment, and the execution of punishment in prison is mainly free punishment. Criminals are bound to return to society after being released. Therefore, the prison should educate and reform them as much as possible during the deprivation of freedom, and transform and train them into new people who can adapt to or basically adapt to social needs in many aspects such as psychology, personality, morality, culture and skills. Therefore, whether criminals have social viability has become an important aspect of modern supervision and reform work. As a means of labor reform, prison production undertakes the functions of correcting bad habits, renewing labor concepts, cultivating labor habits, observing labor discipline, improving cultural knowledge and mastering skills, which are all necessary adaptability for criminals to return to society. At present, China's prison production is dominated by manual processing industry, which has many defects such as simple technology, boring work, low technical content and weak practical skills. Moreover, our production management level, business knowledge education, technical training, skill teaching and so on also have many shortcomings. The industrial structure, labor mode and reform means of prison production are far from meeting the needs of criminals returning to society.

According to relevant research reports, by the end of 2003, the recidivism rate of criminals in Beijing Prison Administration was 20. 1%, which was higher than the national rate of 12.86%, among which criminals aged 25-54 accounted for 89.4%. 65% of criminals are educated in junior and senior high schools, and 23.5% are educated and illiterate in primary schools. 80.8% of the "second palace" criminals; Unemployed people account for 60.3% and farmers account for 29.5%.

⑴. By the end of 2004, a total of 374 criminals in Jiaozuo Juvenile Crime Center of Henan Province had been sentenced more than twice, of which "re-entry" criminals accounted for 82.4%; Theft criminals accounted for 50.8%, and fraud criminals accounted for 3.2%; Criminals under the age of 40 account for 88.2%; Farmers account for 59.6% and unemployed people account for 32.6%.

(2) Guangxi Prison Bureau's research on the recidivism of released prisoners during the period of 1997-2003 shows that theft accounts for 39.7% of the total recidivism, and fraud accounts for 3.4%. Second Palace accounts for 88%; The population aged 25-54 accounts for 82.2%; Junior high school education, illiteracy and semi-illiteracy accounted for 94.8%; Farmers account for 62.4%, and the unemployed account for 28.7% (3).

. The research results of recidivism in areas with different levels of economic development and cultural development show that there are many property crimes, many young and middle-aged criminals, many farmers and unemployed idlers, many criminals with low education and illiteracy, many criminals who have entered the second house, many gang crimes, many short-term criminals commit crimes again, and the interval between recidivism is shortened. Among them, recidivism for money is the most prominent, and it is on the rise year by year. Through a comprehensive investigation and analysis of recidivists' psychological characteristics, ideas, social environment and employment lifestyle, it is found that the poor quality of the last sentence, distorted thinking, unbalanced mentality, poor living environment, poor adaptability and difficulties in job placement have all become prominent problems. According to the investigation results of Beijing Prison Administration, among recidivists, 64.2% have no stable income, 78.4% have no job or work is unstable, 56.2% think that "the government has never arranged a job for me", 2 1.4% say that "I have been looking for a job but I have never found it", and 22.4% say that "I have no technical expertise and am working. ⑴

After the return of released prisoners, they can't meet the needs of society, and the situation of recidivism is grim. As the basic elements of the "three major reform measures", how to play the role of prison production, improve criminals' ability to adapt to society, and prevent and reduce recidivism has become a prominent problem that must be faced in the current supervision and reform work.

four

There is a big gap with the requirements of the quality of criminal reform.

After nearly five years of prison system reform, by 2000, our branch completed the prison system reform, and with the smooth separation of supervision enterprises, the prison functions were restored. By 2004, with the smooth realization of "centralized management of resources outside prison", the separation of production management and resource management outside prison was completed, the goal of prison department reform was realized, and the prison function was further strengthened. At the same time, the financial guarantee of prison funds is constantly improving. In this good situation, prison production, as the carrier of criminals' labor reform, must return from the past economic means to the reform means, and constantly strengthen the function of prison labor reform. Whether the function of prison labor reform is strengthened or not, and how the prison production serves the prison reform work, must be reflected by the quality of criminal labor reform. The comprehensive quality of criminals' labor reform includes labor attendance rate, labor compliance rate, labor productivity, labor growth rate, labor quality level, labor skill level, the degree of eliminating leisure and hate labor, and the degree of updating labor concept. Through the investigation and analysis of the prison production results in our branch office in recent five years, it shows that the labor productivity has a downward trend, the labor growth rate has declined, the labor quality and labor skills have stagnated or declined, and the phenomenon of criminals not working and negative labor is also widespread. Through the investigation and study on the problem of recidivism of released prisoners, it shows that there are many problems in recidivism, such as psychological imbalance, love of leisure and hate of work, greed for enjoyment, lack of skills, difficulty in finding employment and difficulty in adapting to social competition. Although there are many reasons for this phenomenon, it is an indisputable fact that prison production itself is insufficient as a carrier of labor reform. This gap is mainly manifested in the fact that although prison production, which is dominated by simple handicrafts, provides criminals with certain jobs and means of labor, it does not provide criminals with jobs and more advanced means of labor that meet the needs of society in quality. That is to say, simple handicrafts cannot or cannot fully perform the function of "means of reforming criminals". At present, our investment in prison production mainly lies in improving the working environment and improving labor protection, such as the renovation and construction of factory buildings and labor protection facilities and equipment, and improving safety facilities, while the investment in basic software and hardware such as production equipment and facilities, production management level, technical education and vocational skills training is seriously insufficient. This situation can't guarantee criminals to learn skills and management better, and it is difficult to improve their enthusiasm for labor, which restricts the improvement of the quality of prisoners' labor reform.

Third, understanding and thinking about the development of prison production

one

Accurately grasp the relationship between prison function and prison production

The Prison Law clearly states that "the prison is the criminal law enforcement organ of the state", and the prison should "correctly execute the penalty, punish and reform criminals, and prevent and reduce crimes", and it is clear that the fundamental purpose and task of prison work is to punish and reform criminals according to law. Labor reform is the basic means to reform criminals, and prison production is the carrier of labor reform and an important means to perform prison functions and achieve prison work goals. Therefore, prison production should first consider how to obey and serve the center of reforming criminals and promote the realization of prison functions. Secondly, prison production is the carrier and realization form of prisoners' labor reform, which is produced and developed with the evolution of prisoners' labor and the needs of prison functions, and will certainly change and develop with the needs and development of prison functions. Therefore, it is not only an important requirement and goal of prison production reform, but also an important condition to realize criminal labor reform and improve the quality of reform.

two

Correctly understand and grasp the connotation and essence of prison production

According to the Marxist view of labor, China creatively introduces productive labor into penalty execution and reforms criminals through labor, which is not only the embodiment of humanitarianism in China's execution system, but also the symbol of civilized and scientific prison execution system. Prison is a national penalty execution organ, not an economic entity, but in order to reform criminals, criminals must be organized to work. As the carrier of criminals' labor reform, prison production has distinct criminal legitimacy and obvious non-pure economy. Prison production provides labor posts and means for criminals' labor reform, which is determined by the purpose of educating criminals to stand on their own feet. Prisons need to reform criminals through labor to promote the sustainable development of prison production. The non-pure economy of prison production does not mean that we can not pay attention to economic benefits. On the contrary, prison production must pay attention to costs and benefits. By reforming criminals, we will strive to develop production and continuously improve economic benefits, thus creating conditions for prison construction, development and improvement of the quality of criminal reform. Therefore, we must realize that prison production has political attributes, and its fundamental purpose is to provide labor posts and means for criminals to reform through labor, and to transform criminals into law-abiding citizens with social viability and self-reliance. Secondly, prison production also has economic attributes, which require the development and management of production activities, the pursuit of profits, the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets, the creation of wealth, and the provision of material security for prison work.

three

Correctly understand the purpose and significance of developing prison production

Prison production originates from criminal labor, is a production activity derived from criminal labor, and is the carrier and realization form of reforming criminals through labor. The essence of criminal labor is a means to correct criminals. The main purpose of prison production is to provide criminals with means and conditions to turn over a new leaf, develop working habits, learn professional skills, improve their adaptability to returning to society, prevent and reduce crimes, and create wealth for society at the same time. "The combination of punishment and reform aims at reforming people"

China's prison work policy strategically solves the relationship between the means of productive labor and the purpose of reforming people in modern China. Taking productive labor as the basic means of reforming criminals, combined with prison management and education reform, embodies the civilization of China's criminal system, which is essentially different from that of ancient and capitalist countries, which regards labor as a punishment means and criminals as labor force. In essence, the development of prison production is to develop the labor means of reforming criminals, promote prison production to keep pace with the times, obey and serve the center of reforming criminals, and promote the realization of prison functions.

four

Correctly understand the connotation and essential requirements of non-profit prison production

Providing jobs and labor materials for criminals is the core content of prison production and the inevitable requirement of prison production. In the case of higher and higher regulatory safety requirements, there have been phenomena such as seeking stability and fear of chaos, not seeking merit but seeking nothing. Even think that prison production is a sideline, prison production is "doing nothing", "prison funds are guaranteed by the state finance, as long as criminals have jobs, are not idle and have no accidents, they don't have to consider economic benefits". Even among some comrades engaged in prison production, there is an idea of "inferiority", and they even feel that they are slower than comrades in other departments in promotion and appointment, and so on. These understandings weaken the sense of mission and responsibility of developing prison production, and seriously restrict the initiative and enthusiasm of developing prison production.

We should treat the non-profit of prison production dialectically. The non-profit of prison production means that the pursuit of profit cannot be the main goal and task of prison production, and profit is only a by-product in the process of organizing and reforming criminals' labor reform, not the main product. However, non-profit does not deny that prison production participates in market competition, stresses economic benefits, obtains profits and serves prison work on the premise of ensuring the quality of criminal reform. Secondly, developing prison production, creating wealth and obtaining economic benefits are determined by China's basic national conditions. Our country is in the primary stage of socialism, and its economy is still underdeveloped. With the improvement of national strength, the financial guarantee of prison funds can only be gradually improved. It is only an unrealistic fantasy to solve the problem of funds by "waiting", and the result can only suffocate the whole prison cause. Thirdly, obtaining economic benefits from prison production is also an inherent requirement for reforming criminals. The ultimate goal of prison production is to provide criminals with jobs and means of labor reform, so that criminals can repent after release and adapt to the needs of social production. Prison production should stress economic benefits, which will certainly develop production and improve management level. If criminals are allowed to reform in an environment with backward industry, poor management, low management level and relatively backward labor skills, management awareness and labor efficiency for a long time, it will be difficult to ensure that criminals can adapt to the needs of social production after they are released from prison, and it will be difficult to mobilize their initiative and enthusiasm for labor reform. Fourthly, it is in the fundamental interests of prison work and cadres to obtain good economic benefits in prison production. Prison funds are guaranteed by the state finance, which does not mean that the state does all the work. Therefore, by developing prison production, creating good economic benefits and constantly strengthening economic strength, it will help to meet the material and cultural needs of cadres, improve the working conditions and environment of prison work and criminal reform, improve the level of prison security, promote the development of prison work, and at the same time reduce the economic burden for the country.

Therefore, it is necessary to correct the erroneous ideas such as "giving up prison production", "letting prison economy withdraw from the market" and "prison production does not need to consider economic benefits", and unify the political attributes of reforming criminals and the economic attributes of creating wealth into prison work and market economy in accordance with the requirements of market economy, so as to pursue good economic benefits.

five

Scientific setting and rational planning of prison production layout and industrial structure

Qinghe Branch implemented the "16-character" reform policy of the Ministry of Justice, realized "two transfers" and "centralized management of resources outside prison", and created extremely favorable environment and conditions for the reform of prison departments. However, how to improve the industrial level and quality has become a prominent problem in our prison production. To solve this problem, first, vigorously develop the technical labor processing industry and try to reduce and gradually replace the pure manual processing industry. Labor processing industry has become a hot spot in prison production because of its advantages of less investment, quick effect and low risk. Since July 2002, the work of criminals in our branch has actually turned to the labor processing industry. The pure manual labor processing industry did play an active role in the early stage of realizing the "two transfers" and solved the problem of criminals doing idle meals. But because of its own defects, it is difficult to meet the needs of prison reform. In prison production, pure manual labor processing industry will eventually be replaced by skilled labor processing industry, which is determined by the political and economic attributes of prison production. Therefore, vigorously develop the pillar industries of technical labor processing (such as clothing, shoes and hats, toys, hardware, luggage, handicrafts, etc.). ) has become an important choice and way to develop prison production and improve the quality of prisoners' labor reform. Second, moderately establish "state-owned enterprises in prison". Labor processing industry, whether it is purely manual processing industry or technical processing industry, belongs to "social enterprise in prison" in terms of enterprise nature and management system. Its operating characteristics are that social enterprises (owners) provide raw materials, equipment, technological processes and production technologies to prisons, and social enterprises (owners) organize criminals to work together with prisons, and the products are sold by social enterprises (owners). The "prison social enterprise" with labor processing as the main body has some defects, such as the dependence of production process, the instability of processing projects, the inefficiency of production effect, the limitation of technical skills training, the deviation of criminals' labor value orientation and so on. This will have a negative impact on the corrective function of prison production, incentive mechanism and criminals' learning skills. Therefore, the government will invest, provide equipment, raw materials, technology and even management and market (or part of the market), and set up some "prison state-owned enterprises" appropriately, which will effectively reduce the risks and problems existing in prison production and promote the play and realization of prison production functions. Historically, the "state-owned enterprises in prisons" such as machinery factories, paper mills, brick factories and grain processing factories under the jurisdiction of our sub-bureau provided criminals with a variety of jobs, including turning, boring, planing, milling, electricity, gas, welding, assembly, modeling, fire fighting and maintenance. The knowledge, technology and skills learned by criminals in labor reform are very close to each other.

six

Constantly innovate and improve the prison production management system

Prison production is a historical concept, which arises and develops with the evolution of criminal labor and the needs of prison functions, and will also change with the needs of prison functions. In the new period, the new prison work practice will give it new connotation. In the prison work in the new period, the position and function of prison production are mainly reflected in four aspects: correction function, training function, stability function and wealth creation function. In order to give full play to the role of prison production, it is impossible or completely realized by one or several institutions and departments, or one or several policies. A complete, scientific and reasonable management system must be established. Therefore, prison production must keep pace with the times, proceed from China's national conditions, proceed from our own reality, take the purpose of prison work as the foundation, aim at improving the quality of criminals' reform, fully consider the requirements of the development of socialist market economy, innovate constantly, and establish and improve the corresponding prison production management system, including prison production layout and planning, prison production industry positioning and construction, prison enterprise organization and management forms, safety guarantee mechanism, rights guarantee mechanism and correction. Through institutional norms and institutional guarantees, we will promote the adjustment and development of prison production, continuously improve the quality of criminal reform, and promote the continuous development and progress of prison work.