Ex-prison officials linked to Shandong outbreak plead guilty

Three former prison officials in Shandong province stood trial and pleaded guilty of malpractice on Wednesday after their behaviors were identified as causing dozens of inmates and staff to get infected with the novel coronavirus early this year.

The three defendants are Wang Wenjie, ex-deputy director of the Prison Administration of Shandong; Liu Baoshan, ex-head of the provincial Rencheng Prison; and Deng Tihe, ex-deputy head of the prison.

Wang's case was heard in Jinan, capital of Shandong, while the two others' were opened in Jining, another city of the province.

Prosecutors from Jinan said Wang, who had been responsible for handling, coordinating and preventing the COVID-19 in the provincial prison system since Jan 23, should be criminally liable, because he did not realize the sensitivity and complexity of the epidemic control in prisons, dropping his guard and lacking supervision in the fight against the outbreak.

"He did not report fever cases in the Rencheng Prison to superior departments, causing a spread and dissemination of the disease in the prison, which should be charged with the crime of malpractice," the prosecutors added.

Prosecutors from Jining also charged Liu and Deng with the crime of malpractice, noting they neither strictly checked health condition of staff members in the Rencheng Prison nor gave strong control when finding inmates gathering or crossing floors.

On Wednesday, two other Rencheng correctional officers -- Chen Minhua and Dai Guanghui -- also pleaded guilty of disturbing prevention of infectious diseases in a court in Jining.

Chen, as the prison's first batch of officers working for a closed area due to the outbreak on Jan 27, had a close connection with several colleagues and inmates, but he did not report his suspected symptoms of COVID-19 until the prison found this on Feb 12, according to prosecutors from Rencheng district of Jining.

Chen was identified having been infected after being hospitalized and his behavior had disturbed the outbreak prevention, the prosecutors said.

They also pointed out Dai's family member had close contact with a neighbor back from Wuhan, a city hard hit by the virus in Hubei province, on Jan 22, but Dai hid the experience several times in the local government's inspection.

Dai did not report the contact until many prisoners were found to be infected, and he was also a confirmed case after a test, the prosecutors added.

A ruling for all five defendants will be announced at a later date.

On Feb 21, more than 200 confirmed cases of the virus were reported in the Rencheng Prison. Later that day, a team led by the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee visited the prison to look into the cluster infection.

The Ministry of Justice, the top authority for regulating prisons in the nation, also noted at that time that the Rencheng case reflected a neglect of duty, calling on all prisons across the country to improve management and governance capability.