A prison in a broad sense refers to a place where all prisoners are held, including prisons, detention centers and detention centers. In a narrow sense, a prison refers to a criminal who is sentenced to death with a two-year suspension of execution, life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law. The principle of combining punishment with reform and combining education with labor is applied to criminals, and criminals are transformed into law-abiding citizens. The competent department of a prison is the Prison Administration, and the highest administrative department is the Ministry of Justice.
[Edit this paragraph] function
1. The punishment function of a prison refers to the sum of the psychological pain effects caused by the state's putting the criminal's body and mind under the condition of punishment and restricting his spiritual and material life. 2. The reform function of prison refers to the sum of educational effects of changing criminals' criminal concepts and cultivating them to abide by the law according to the purpose of punishment. 3. The defense function of a prison refers to the sum of the effects of preventing criminals from committing crimes again by executing penalties, and at the same time, warning, deterring and educating other people who may commit crimes in society so that they will not embark on the road of crime. 4. Special prevention means that by executing the penalty, the prison isolates the criminals from the society and loses the conditions for committing crimes again, thus depriving the criminals of their personal freedom and preventing them from committing crimes again while serving their sentences. 5. General prevention means that the prison punishes criminals to deter those who have not committed crimes and prevent them from committing crimes.
[Edit this paragraph] General properties
Prison has a distinct class nature. The class nature of prison is the fundamental attribute of prison. Prison is a severe punishment. Prisons in any country have the function of suppressing the resistance and destruction of hostile classes and forces, cracking down on crimes and punishing crimes. Penalty is the inherent attribute of penalty, and it is one of the tools for dictatorship to safeguard its own class interests and ruling order.
[Edit this paragraph] Production history
Prison is the product of the development of human society to a certain historical stage, which comes into being with the emergence of class and country. In the primitive society before mankind entered the class society, there was no class, no prison. During the primitive society clan commune, human society was based on blood relationship. People lived by hunting, the means of production were public, and the clan leader was in charge of the distribution of property. However, due to the low level of productivity, people's survival is difficult to guarantee. Because there is no state organization in any form, conflicts between people are solved through habitual bloody revenge. In the later period of primitive society, due to the development of productive forces, people began to form groups and used grinded or beaten stone tools to hunt, resulting in surplus products. Clan leaders occupy surplus products for free, so private ownership appears in society, and there are two opposing classes in human society, namely the slave owner class and the slave class. Human society will also transition from primitive society to slave society and begin to enter the first class society. With the emergence of class, the form of state organization appeared. In order to maintain its own rule and suppress the resistance of the ruled class, the ruling class in charge of state power has formulated a series of rules and regulations, which are the embodiment of the will of the state. This is the law. Criminals are regarded as crimes, and criminals should be punished, which leads to punishment and prison. The appearance of prison changes with the change of class demand, serves the ruling class and reflects its will. Therefore, prison is a unique phenomenon of class society, an irreconcilable product of class contradictions and one of the violent machines of the country. It comes into being with the emergence of classes and countries, and it will also die with the demise of the country.
[Edit this paragraph] The characteristics of prisons in different historical periods
Prisons have a history of thousands of years. Historically, slave countries, feudal countries, capitalist countries and socialist countries all had prisons. Its characteristics are as follows: prisons in slave countries: the concept and execution of punishment are aimed at revenge. The main punishment methods are life imprisonment and corporal punishment, and prisons are used to hold prisoners awaiting execution and criminals who have not yet been sentenced. Feudal state prisons: the concept and execution of punishment are aimed at intimidation, and the prison system and prison management are cruel and dark. Prisons in capitalist countries: In early capitalist countries, the purpose of prisons was retribution. In the 1920s of 19, with the development of penalty theory, it gradually changed into correction and education. Prisons in socialist countries: aimed at transforming criminal citizens into law-abiding citizens. In the later period of prisons in capitalist countries, prisons gradually moved closer to legality, adaptation of crimes and punishments, and humanization of punishments. At present, China's prisons belong to the prison system of socialist countries, and the policy is "combining education with reform, aiming at reforming people". This embodies the characteristics of the socialist legal system.
[Edit this paragraph] China was the first person who proposed to create a prison.
Hao Tao was the first person who proposed to build a prison in China. The just judge in China mythology. Clear face and bird's mouth, impartial. He has a one-horned sheep (Xie Zhi, a unicorn), who knows who is guilty. When Hao Tao tried a case, he brought the God Sheep, and the God Sheep only contacted the guilty people. Hao Tao, a native of Gaocheng (now Lu 'an, Anhui Province), was born in the 2nd/kloc-0th century BC, after Shao Hao, the son of the Yellow Emperor. He is the ancestor of the ancient Lu 'an, and is said to be the leader of Dongyi nationality, surnamed Yan. Legend has it that Shun Shi was appointed as an official in charge of criminal law. After Yu succeeded to the throne, he was recommended as a successor by the abdication system and was "granted political power" (that is, he was instructed to handle government affairs), but he died before Yu and failed to succeed to the throne. Later, Yu recommended Yi as the heir. Today, there is a tomb of Gao Tao in the east of Lu 'an, and Britain and six countries in the Spring and Autumn Period are descendants of Hao Tao. With Yao, Shun and Yu, it is the judges of the period who are also called "the four saints of ancient times", equivalent to the chief justice of the country. Hao Tao was also a great statesman, thinker and educator in ancient times, and was recognized as "the originator of justice" by historians and judicial circles. His thoughts of "rule by law" and "rule by virtue" are historically related to today's "rule by law" and "rule by virtue". Judicial activities and legal thoughts in Hao Tao culture had an important influence on ancient Chinese legal culture. Hao Tao was also mythologized as a prison god by later generations. He assisted in managing political water and developing production, and made great contributions to the unification of the summer and the formation of the Chinese nation. Yu appointed him as his successor and granted him political power according to his moral character and merits. But he died before he succeeded to the throne, so Yu gave England and peace to his descendants. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was proud of Li's ancestor, and in the second year of Tianbao (AD 743), posthumous title was the "Emperor Deming".