Author: Wang Xuefeng
The name "prison" appeared as early as the Ming Dynasty: Wang Xuefeng
The name "prison" appeared very early in Ming Dynasty. In ancient China, since the Han Dynasty, prisons in Zhongyang and other places have been called prisons. Most people call them prisons and prisons, and there is no such name as "prison". Shen Jiaben said in "An Examination of the Criminal Law of the Past Dynasties": "In ancient times, there was no prison name, and it was called a prison. Since the "Ming Code", it is now commonly known as a prison."[1]
In the precedents of the Ming Dynasty, The law where the word "prison" officially appears is in the "Da Ming Law - Criminal Law", which hunts and kills "prisoners who escape from prison and those who escape from prison". Each will be punished with a second-class crime. "[2] "Prison" and "prison" have similar meanings, ("Usurpation Note": "Escape through the door is called 'getting out of prison', and escaping over the wall is called 'escape from prison'") . (Usurped Notes): "Escape through the door is called 'getting out of prison'; escaping through the door is called 'escaping from prison'; escaping over the wall is called 'escape from prison'." In fact, judging from historical records, "prison" has been around since the Han Dynasty. It has begun to appear. "Hanshu - Wang Zunzhuan": "Siwei belongs to prison". Shigu said that "Si is the guardian of the prison, and the prisoner is also the prisoner." Although, this "prison" means "prison". Prison is based on this"[3]. Since the Ming Dynasty, the places where criminals are imprisoned have been clearly called "prisons". For example, Zhongyang Prison is called "Ministry of Punishment" and "Yuan Prison", and local prisons are called "Fu Prison" and "County Prison". "Prison", local prisons are called "county prisons" and "county prisons". In the "Criminal Law 11 Breaking Prison Gates" in "Ask the Penal Code and Penalty", it is stipulated in the "Examples for Judging Prisoners, etc.": "Serving in the Jingsi Li Jian" The first prisoner who died of illness in prison will be buried as usual in the spring and summer when there is no execution, even after the frost and before the winter solstice, on holy days or days of worship and fasting. "" [4]
Understood in a broad sense, prison "refers to detention, labor places (or execution places) and facilities that restrict personal freedom, backed by state coercion or for the purpose of punishment", [ 5] Its extension includes "the criminal's freedom of punishment (imprisonment and custody) after the execution of the sentence; the place where the punishment is executed; the criminal's place, and the criminal's place, and the criminal's place.) The place where the criminal is sentenced to death; the prisoner is relieved Places of detention for military service, exile, etc., and places where they are sent to labor; places where death row prisoners are temporarily detained and awaiting execution; places where criminal defendants and other criminal suspects and pending criminals are guarded; and where parties to civil litigation and civil proceedings are detained and detained. Places for parties to criminal proceedings; places where various illegal and criminal persons who endanger social security are imprisoned; reformatory schools and correctional schools where juvenile offenders and illegal criminals are imprisoned; places of house arrest for prominent Chinese families; private rooms of clans, landlords, warlords, rich men, ancestral temples, etc. Cell. "[6]
Based on the above understanding of prisons, the establishment of prisons in the Ming Dynasty can be roughly divided into the following parts:
1. Zhongyang Prison
(1) Dali Temple Prison
In the early Ming Dynasty, a prison was set up in Dali Temple. According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty": "In the early Ming Dynasty, torture instruments and prisons were still installed. After Hongzhi, the case files were only read, and the prisoners were not allowed to go to the palace." [7] The Ming government established the Dali Temple to review the case files. The "History of the Ming Dynasty" said: "The Dali Temple was established to be cautious about punishment. The three judicial departments will conduct a joint trial. In the initial trial, the Ministry of Criminal Justice and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will take the lead. In the retrial, the temple will take the lead. "[8]
In the 13th year of Hongwu (1380), Zhu Yuanzhang killed the left prime minister Hu Weiyong for being "good at planting party members", and took the opportunity to cancel the Zhongshu Province and abolish the position of prime minister. "Analysis of Six Departments" [9], the judicial power of Dali Temple was handed over to the Ministry of Punishment, and Dali Temple was specifically responsible for review and refutation, so Shen Jiaben said in "Xing Lv Kao": "Dali Temple is responsible for the vindication of cases, and all the Ministry of Punishment and Ducha are in charge. When the officials of the hospital and the fifth army asked about the prison lawsuit, they all moved the case, took the prisoner, and made a detailed judgment in the palace. His duty was to review the case, so there was no prison. "[10]
(2) Ministry of Punishment
In the Ming Dynasty, under the system of Yuan Dynasty, prisons were set up in the Ministry of Punishment. The person who manages the Penal Ministry Prison is the Department of Punishment. Prisons for cases involving capital punishment and caning or above. There are six prisons for convicted criminals and six prisons for unconvicted criminals. [11] Zhao Shuqiao of the Qing Dynasty believed in "Prison Examination Preparation": "In the former Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Punishment was equipped with factory guards and weavers, and was prepared for everything. At that time, the power of the Ministry of Punishment was very light, and the number of people who made prisons was still tens of thousands. ". [12] It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, a huge number of criminals were detained in the prisons of the Ministry of Punishment.
(3) Metropolitan Procuratorate Prison
In the early Ming Dynasty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate set up a prison to preside over trials.
"In the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Punishment and the Metropolitan Procuratorate also had prisons. The Metropolitan Procuratorate was the Royal Academy and inherited the Yuan system." [13] "In addition to the tasks of picketing officials, distinguishing right from wrong, and supervising all walks of life, the Metropolitan Procuratorate also has judicial power and prison patrol power." [14] The Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple have different functions. "The Ministry of Punishment supervises and inspects the punishments in the world, and Dali Temple refutes them." [15]
2. Local prisons
In terms of administrative divisions, the early Ming Dynasty inherited the Yuan Dynasty system and established the Xingzhongshu Province to take charge of local military and political affairs. In the ninth year of Hongwu (1376), Zhu Yuanzhang changed the position of Zhongshu Province to the Provincial Envoy Department, responsible for local administration, civil affairs and the collection of taxes and levies. At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Capital Command to be responsible for judicial and military affairs respectively. "At the end of the Ming Dynasty, all the thirteen chief envoys in the country were directly under the control of the second department." [16] The Chief Envoy Department consists of administrative agencies at the government (or directly controlled state) and county (state) levels. Scholars believe that "there are also prisons under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture (Beijing), Yingtian Prefecture (Nanjing), as well as prefectures, prefectures, and counties." "[17]
"In the early days of Hongwu, those who were sentenced to prison were sentenced to county punishment with fifty floggings, with eighty canes to be sentenced to state punishment, and to those with one hundred canes to be sentenced to prefecture level. Those above were sent to the province with the prison and removed. A trip of bribery." [18] "In the twenty-sixth year of the rule, the Chief Secretary and the prefectures and counties of Zhili were punished with sticks and executions; exile, migration, exile, and miscellaneous crimes were punished with capital punishment." [19]
3. Military Prison
In the early Ming Dynasty, the Dudufu was set up as the highest military institution. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), Zhu Yuanzhang deposed the Dudufu and established five armies: center, left, right, front and rear. The governor's office, and the establishment of a garrison and a command and envoy department in the local area.
"The trial of criminal cases in the Ming Dynasty was clearly divided between military households and civilian households. The trial of military cases was handled by the commanders and envoys of the capital and the thousands or hundreds of households in the guard station. Important matters must be reported to the Fifth Army Governor's Office, or The Ministry of War reports to the Emperor." [20] Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, there was a prison in the Dudu Commandery Department, which was subordinate to the Fifth Army Dudufu and the Ministry of War. [21]
4. Gaoqiang
The Ming Dynasty also had a special prison - Gaoqiang - in Fengyang, Anhui. Its main function was to imprison clan sinners. Although the Gaoqiang has certain particularities in terms of the objects of imprisonment, its function is similar to that of a prison, so it can also be regarded as a type of prison in the Ming Dynasty.
5. Factory Prison
The Factory Prison is the prison attached to the Dongchang, Xichang, Neichang and Jinshen Guards. The factory is the emperor’s secret service agency, and the attached prisons embody the The autocratic characteristics of feudal rule in the Ming Dynasty.
According to Shen Jiaben's "An Examination of the Criminal Law of the Past Dynasties": "The establishment of the Dongchang began with Emperor Chengzu. Taizu tried to use Jinshen Prison, but later banned it, and its reuse also started from Yongle. The Changchang Guards "In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, the pro-military governor Yi Luanwei who was responsible for the functions of the guard was changed to the Jinshen Guard by Zhu Yuanzhang, and was granted the power to detect, arrest, judge and punish criminals. Jinshen. This is how the prison appeared. "Jinshen Prison is called Zhao Prison" in the world. [22]
In the 20th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang "in order to punish many tyrants, he was burned, released from the prison officials' department, sent to the Ministry of Punishments to record the affairs, returned to the three law departments inside and outside the prison, and was dismissed from Jinyi to guard the prison" [23]. In the twenty-sixth year of his reign, Zhu Yuanzhang further "stated the prohibition, and that there were supreme imperial guards inside and outside the imperial prison, and that the law and justice were subject to it." [24] During the Chengzu era of the Ming Dynasty, "the Hongwu imperial edict was abolished and no longer used," and "the imperial edict was restored." The establishment of the Golden Clothes Prison and the extrajudicial executions had a negative impact. "The Empress Ying established the constitution with the intention of being a little compassionate and observing the wind. The great evil and obscurity, the case is like a mountain, but the ambition is from the bottom, without asking; or there is no reason for death. "[25] The Jinyi Prison was an important measure of Zhu Yuanzhang's centralized rule, which reflected the "violent" side of punishment. The Jinyi Prison allowed extrajudicial arrests, extraordinary trials, and harsh punishments. "The remnants of ghosts and beasts are more harmful than this." [26]
In addition to the establishment of Jinyiwei in the Ming Dynasty, there were also three specialized agencies: Dongchang, Xichang and Neixingchang, all of which were headed by It was controlled by the eunuchs at that time. According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty", after Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty came to the throne, he "relyed exclusively on eunuchs and set up a dongchang in the north of Dong'anmen, with pet guards to hunt for treason and treacherous remarks." After the capital was moved to Beijing, the power of Dongchang and Jinshen were equal. [27] During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, Shang Ming was in charge of Dongchang, and "another governor of Xichang was set up, with Wang directly supervising him, and leading the governor to be the governor of Dongchang." During the Wuzong era of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch Liu Tao came to power. "The Jin Dynasty changed the Rating Department's Foreign Pay Factory to a Xing Factory, and the old warehouse of Rongfu was an Nei Xing Factory, leading it. The capital called it the Nei Xing Factory, although both the east and west factories were waiting for inspection, which was cool. . And according to the method created, no matter how serious the crime is, it will be punished with a stick, garrisoned forever, or sent away with a yoke.
The shackles weighed up to 150 kilograms, and he died in a matter of days." [28]
Qing Dynasty native Zhao Shuqiao commented in "Prison Examination Preparation": "In the former Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Punishment used factory guards to brutally kill Luo Zhi. Everything is covered. At that time, the power of the Ministry of Punishment was very light, and the prisons it controlled were still tens of thousands of years old." [29]
[1] "Criminal Law Examination of the Past Dynasties - Prison Examination"
[2] White-Ai Fenfang: "The Laws of the Ming Dynasty", Law Press, 1998 edition, page 207
[3] "Criminal Law Examination of the Past Dynasties-Prison Examination"
[4] Huai Xue. Feng: "Da Ming Law", Law Press, 1998 edition, page 441
[5] Xue Meiqing: "Discussion on Chinese Prisons and Prison System", "Legal Research", Issue 4, 1995, No. 70. Page.
[6] "History of Chinese Prisons" writing team: "History of Chinese Prisons": History of Chinese Prisons, 1986 edition of Zhongzun Publishing House, page 1.
[7] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Official Records"
[8] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Official Records"
[9] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Official Records" 》
[10] "Criminal Law Examination of Past Dynasties-Prison Examination"
[11] "History of Chinese Prisons" Writing Group: "History of Chinese Prisons", 1986 edition of Zhongzhong Publishing House, Vol. 1 page: "History of Chinese Prisons", 1986 edition of Zhongzhong Publishing House, page 135.
[12] Written by Zhang Xiufu, edited by Zhao Shuqiao (Qing Dynasty): Translation and Annotation of Ti Xing Bikao", Legal Publishing Society 1997 edition, page 213
[13] "Criminal Law Examination of Past Dynasties-Prison Examination"
[14] "History of Chinese Prisons", compiled by the Chinese Prison History Research Group, Mass. Publishing House 1986 edition, page 135
[15] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Criminal Law Chronicles"
[16] Editor-in-chief Bai Shouyi: "General History of China", Volume 9: General History of China. Volume 9 (Part 1), Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1999 edition, pages 316-317
[17] "History of Prisons in China" written by: "History of Prisons in China", 1986 Edition by People's Publishing House. , page 136.
[18] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Criminal Law Chronicles"
[19] Huang Liuhong. Fuhui Quanshu, Volume 13, "Xingmingbu-Prison", quoted from Bai Hua: Prisons in Prefecture Counties during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "Chinese History Research" Issue 4, 2002, Page 119
[20] Editor-in-Chief Bai Shouyi: "General History of China" Volume 9 (Part 1). , Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1999 edition, page 329.
[21] Zhang Fengxian: "History of Prisons in China", People's Publishing House, 2004 edition, page 121.
[22] " "History of the Ming Dynasty - Chronicles of Criminal Law"
[23] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Chronicles of Officials"
[24] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Chronicles of Criminal Law"
[25] "History of the Ming Dynasty - Chronicles of Criminal Law" -Criminal Law Chronicles"
[26] "History of Ming Dynasty - Criminal Law Chronicles"
[27] "History of Ming Dynasty - Criminal Law Chronicles"
[28] "History of Ming Dynasty - Criminal Law Chronicles" "Zhi".
[29] Written by Zhang Xiufu, edited by Zhao Shuqiao (Qing Dynasty): "Translation and Annotation of Ti Xing Bi Kao", Law Press, 1997 edition, page 213.