South China province to put inmate information online

GUANGZHOU - South China's Guangdong province plans to publish information about prison inmates online in a bid to make prison management more transparent, local authorities said Wednesday.

According to the provincial prison administration bureau, Guangdong will publish information related to commuting sentences and parole for more than 130,000 prison inmates online by the year end.

Relatives of the prisoners can obtain information on how well they do, how much pocket money they spend and their health conditions after searching on the special query system.

The prison of Jieyang city in Guangdong piloted this program in April and it's the first of its kind in China.

China has long been criticized over its opaque prison system and law enforcement process.

"This new program will make the process of managing prison affairs more transparent and open to public supervision," said Liu Fang, head of the bureau.