A Shanghai prison yesterday opened its doors to visitors for the first time in a public relations campaign aimed at improving the image of the city's penal system.
Baoshan prison, which houses 2,000 inmates in a northern suburb of Shanghai, will hold the open house on the last Thursday of every month.
On the programme's first day yesterday, the prison received more than 70 visitors, most of them relatives of inmates, students and volunteers.
'It's a good way for the average person to know more about the prison and the actual living conditions of ordinary prisoners,' an official from the Shanghai Prison Administration Bureau said.
'We pledge to provide prisoners with a certain standard of living and we are going to let people see that we have kept our word.'
Foreign human rights groups criticise the harsh conditions in jails on the mainland, especially for political prisoners.