Photo: IC

One year after police officers at a detention center in East China's Jiangxi Province brought a sex worker into the institution for an inmate, the Jiangxi public security department announced on July 19 that five police officers involved, including the detention center director and the county's public security bureau director received punishments ranging from "serious warnings" from the Party to losing their jobs, news portal thepaper.cn reported.

He Yuling, 32, had sex with a sex worker in the cafeteria of the Dongxiang county detention center in Fuzhou, Jiangxi on May 2, 2015. How, or even if, he has been punished remains unknown.

The woman, named Lu Lu, was taken into the detention center by Lei Ronghui, its deputy director. Lei told thepaper.cn that the woman and a man with her tricked him into letting her visit He alone. The man, He Lianggui, was He Yuling's friend.

Lei was removed from his post in August last year and received a serious warning from the Party. The woman was detained and He Lianggui was fined.

However, questions remains how multiple levels of supervision failed to stop this from occurring and how He Yuling become powerful enough in the center to arrange this liaison.

Sex in the big house

According to documents obtained by thepaper.cn, Lei and a police officer brought He Lianggui and Lu Lu to the detention center after they were bribed by He Lianggui with a carton of cigarettes. The cartons are sold for at about 700 yuan ($104.9) locally.

Then Lei asked He Lianggui and Lu Lu to wait in the cafeteria while he brought He Yuling from his cell. He Yuling then spent time alone with Lu Lu alone.

The pair had sex for 20 minutes. During the process, Lei asked a police officer to tell He Yuling to hurry up.

After escorting Lu Lu out of the detention center, He Lianggui then took a former inmate into the center to meet with He Yuling.

The Dongxiang county public security bureau received tip-off about Lei's activities on May 12, 2015.

He Yuling was detained in October 2014 for opening a casino, and was supposed to finish serving his nine-month sentence in July 2015.

Locals said that He Yuling was involved in KTV and casino businesses, and lived a mafia-like lifestyle.

Banned booty call

When He Lianggui asked Lei on the phone to allow him and Lu Lu to visit He Yuling that night, Lei allegedly asked He Lianggui "Why visit him again? You just visited him this afternoon."

According to a notice published by the Jiangxi Prison Administrative Bureau, visitors including family and guardians are allowed to meet prisoners and prisoners are generally allowed to receive visitors once every month for no more than half an hour. And the notice also said that visits are not allowed on holidays and weekends.  

May 2 was  a Saturday. But according to the detention center's own rules, prisoners are allowed to meet visitors on weekends, but not at night.

Regardless, Lei was not allowed to let He Yuling to spend time alone with Lu Lu, according to the rules.

"If I had known she was a sex worker, I would rather have had my head cut off than let her in," Lei was quoted  as saying by thepaper.cn.

An anonymous insider told thepaper.cn that the case occurred due to some police officers' ignorance of the law and the fact that sex work is common in Dongxiang county.

All local taxi drivers are familiar with Huancheng Road, home to many "health centers" offering paid sex.

The insider said that the Dongxiang county police concealed the scandal at first, and then only gave light punishment to the involved police officers.

Two lawyers from two Chongqing law firms both said that Lei - who only received an administrative penalty - may have actually committed a crime.

If Lei permitted more than one such illicit liaison in the detention center, he could be charged with the crime of allowing prostitution. And if he is found to have illegally arranged paid sex for the prisoner which also triggered public anger with judicial authorities, Lei could also be charged with abuse of power, the lawyers said.

thepaper.cn
Newspaper headline: Getting intimate with inmates