轉載：Latest in a series of custodial deaths revealed

From SCMP 10/13/2009

A man starved to death in police custody in Beijing, state media reported on Tuesday, in the latest of a series of deaths in detention which has triggered a public drive for reform of the mainland's penal system.
Qi Changjiang, a 30-year-old man detained for selling fake receipts, died on September 17 in Beijing after being held at a district detention centre. The diagnosis said his “heartbeat suddenly stopped... 49 days without eating caused his death”, the China Daily said.

Police said he refused to eat.

Authorities have launched an investigation in April into deaths in detention centres, which are controlled by police and are used to hold suspects for an undefinite period before trials begin.

In the Chinese legal system, which relies heavily on confessions for conviction, people can be detained without access to lawyers or family for some time before being formally arrested and charged.

Human rights organisations and activists have routinely documented deaths and torture in mainland police custody as well as in the extra-judicial “re-education through labour” system.

The Ministry of Justice, which runs the formal prison system, is trying to take control of the detention centres from police.

At least seven people have been beaten to death in detention centres in the mainland this year, Chinese media reported following a public outcry after one detainee’s death was attributed to a game of “hide and seek”.

Qi’s wife told the paper that police prevented her from meeting her husband during his detention, denying they were holding him.

Eight other “unnatural” deaths, including three suicides and two accidents, have also been recorded this year, state media reported earlier this year.