Editing Police Statism (section)

====[[File:Jiang Tze-min.png]][[File:ThreeRepresents.png]][[File:BoXilai.png]][[File:TerrorCapitalism.png]] Labour Camps and Blackjails [[File:Falun Gong Theo.png]][[File:EasternLightning.png]]====

*'''Re-education through labor (劳动教养 laojiao)''' was a system of administrative detention in the People's Republic of China, active from 1957 to 2013, with the purpose of detaining persons who were accused of minor crimes such as petty theft, prostitution, and trafficking illegal drugs, as well as political dissidents, petitioners. It was separate from the much larger laogai system of prison labor camps which is meant for more serious criminal offenses. And from 1999, the new “610 Office” was created to suppress and torture [[File:Falun Gong Theo.png]] [[Reactionaryism#Falun Gong|Falun Gong]] followers. Sentences under re-education through labor were typically for one to three years, with the possibility of an additional one-year extension. (In reality, for Falun Gong practitioners the sentences were made much longer because people were often transported to a different camp when their sentences were finished). They were issued as a form of administrative punishment by police, rather than through the judicial system. While they were incarcerated, detainees were often subject to some form of political education. Estimates on the number of RTL detainees in any given year range from 190,000 to two million. In 2013, there were approximately 350 RTL camps in operation.

Laojiao was significantly expanded under the regime of [[File:Jiang Tze-min.png]] Jiang Zemin (1989-2004) who used the persecution of Falun Gong and other spiritual movements as part of a strategy to maintain tight control over China's political system even after he forced to step down in 2004. From 1999-2013, Falun Gong practitioners made up the majority of the prison population in most RTL camps. The prisoners received inhumane treatment, and several former members of the Laojiao called it out for [[File:OrganHarvesting.png]] forced organ harvesting. On 28 December 2013, during the beginning of the new administration and [[File:XiJinpingThoughtf.png]] Xi Jinping and [[File:PinkXi.png]] Li Keqiang, due to much pressure from human rights organizations, the RTL system was formally abolished and some detainees were released and others relocated to other prisons and mental hospitals. Human rights groups have also observed that other forms of extrajudicial detention have taken their place, with some former RTL camps being renamed as drug rehabilitation centers.