China’s prisons go digital for inmate convenience and clean management
- Beijing Prison adds online payment services for inmates to go shopping from the inside
- System also tracks orders and approvals to keep management honest
China’s love of online shopping and cashless payment has gone a step further by moving into most unlikely territory – behind prison bars.
Beijing Prison announced last month that it had added Alipay to the online payment services families of prisoners can use to deposit money for inmates, for digital shopping or payment of medical expenses.
The prison began allowing families to use WeChat to transfer money to their relatives behind bars in September last year.
Families can make deposits by accessing Alipay through the prison’s website or the Alipay app. Inmates can receive as much as 1,000 yuan (US$147) per month and the digital wallet has a maximum balance limit of 5,000 yuan.
In the land where mobile payments are king, China says rejecting physical cash is illegal
Alipay has confirmed that the free service is available now.
Alipay is owned by Alibaba Group, which also owns the South China Morning Post.