art by oisín @punk-ish, as talented as he is wonderful.

“the laogai system is a part of the communist system. the chinese communist regime cannot survive without the laogai system. It is not like in the west, where criminals are sentenced accordingly. in china, all prisoners, including the petty criminals, are all forced to work at the labor camps. they have no choice. they are forced to "reform" - that means undergo brainwashing so they can uphold the communist system. they make you change the way you think otherwise they will not let you out.”

upon looking up my file, he told me i had been sentenced to life in a prison camp.

Without torture, there are no labor camps. The purpose of the laogais is evil; they violate Communist law. They violate the Communist institution.

the labor camps have traditionally supported themselves and paid the salaries of their worker by selling products like generators and farm tools---and more recently wigs and christmas lights---made by the prisoners. these day the shabbily-made products don't sell well in the competitive markets and the camps are bringing in less money than they did. as a result the inmates are getting less food and live in worse conditions and are required to work longer hours making labor-intensive products.