Creature comforts inside prison for corrupt officials
Bo Xilai will probably serve his life sentence at Qincheng jail – and in relative luxury
Former Politburo member Bo Xilai will likely enjoy relatively luxurious treatment at a prison where many former political elites are serving time, but he might also run into the former aide who triggered his downfall.
The Jinan Intermediate People's Court, where Bo was tried, did not announce where he would be serving the life sentenced handed to him on Sunday, but many believe it is the Soviet-style Qincheng Prison on the outskirts of Beijing.
The prison, administered by the Ministry of Public Security, has held many senior officials behind its bars over the years.
Bo's father, party elder Bo Yibo , was jailed in Qincheng after being branded a "counter-revolutionary" in the Cultural Revolution. A more notorious inmate was Jiang Qing , widow of Mao Zedong .
Most notably for Bo, his one-time right-hand man, former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun , started his 15-year jail term in Qincheng last year. Wang's attempted defection at the US consulate in Chengdu sparked China's worst political crisis in decades and lead to Bo's downfall.
The South China Morning Post reported earlier that Wang's supporters from Chongqing and his hometown in Liaoning province had delivered dishes of dumplings to the prison for Wang at Lunar New Year in February.