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Guards penalized after prisoner uses app to blackmail women

Xinhua, January 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Fourteen people working at a northeastern Chinese prison, including the governor, received penalties after a prisoner reportedly used a smartphone to blackmail several women.

The justice department of Heilongjiang Province said the case exposed loopholes in the management of the Nehe Prison in Tsitsihar City, which allowed guards to aid the prisoner's fraud racket.

The prison governor and political commissar have been removed from their positions, the department said Tuesday. The Supreme People's Procuratorate said three guards were also being probed for suspected negligence and abuse of power.

Eyebrows were raised last week when a prisoner, surnamed Wang, was reported to have been chatting and subsequently blackmailing women that lived near the prison via the cellphone app WeChat.

Wang threatened the women with their naked videos and pictures and succeeded in swindling two of the women out of over 110,000 yuan (about 18,000 U.S. dollars), according to local prosecuting authorities.

Media reports said Wang owned five mobile phones and even had sex with one female after manipulating her to visit him in prison.

Cellphones are banned in prisons and visiting times are monitored by the prison guards. Wang's case has caused public outcry about lax supervision and corruption in China's prisons. Endit