The mainland prison population has been drastically overestimated, according to a Columbia University researcher.
Professor James Seymour put the number of inmates at two million, compared with US activist Harry Wu Hongda's claim of 20 million.
'It is important to get hold of reliable statistics and cut through the nonsense,' said Professor Seymour, in Hong Kong to promote his new book New Ghosts, Old Ghosts: Prisons and Labour Reform Camps in China.
Based on research of labour reform prisons in Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu, Professor Seymour estimated a national figure of 166 prisoners for every 100,000 people.
Professor Seymour said fewer than one per cent of prisoners were jailed for their beliefs.
Any broader estimate of political prisoners was hampered by a vague definition of the term. 'We don't know how many were imprisoned for acts such as offending a cadre,' he said.
