Laogai, the abbreviation for Láodòng Gǎizào, which means "reform through labor", is a slogan of the Chinese criminal justice system and has been used to refer to the use of penal labour and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Láogǎi is different from láojiào, or re-education through labor, which was an administrative detention system for people who were not criminals but had committed minor offenses, and was intended to reform offenders into law-abiding citizens. Persons detained under laojiao were detained in facilities that were separate from the general prison system of laogai. Both systems, however, involved penal labor.
Re-education through labor, abbreviated laojiao was a system of administrative detention in Mainland China. The system was active from 1957 to 2013, and was used to detain persons accused of minor crimes such as petty theft, prostitution, and trafficking illegal drugs, as well as political dissidents, petitioners, and Falun Gong adherents. It was separate from the much larger laogai system of prison labor camps.
Harry Wu was a Chinese-American human rights activist. Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, and he became a resident and citizen of the United States. In 1992, he founded the Laogai Research Foundation.
Xi'ning Prison is a prison in Qinghai province. It is assigned one of the 12 largest Laogai mines in Northwestern China. It is connected to a prison firm, Qinghaihu Hand Tools Limited Liability Company.
Pingshi Prison is a prison outside Pingshi Town, Lechang City, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China connected to the Guangbei Tea Farm (广北茶场).
Foshan Prison is a prison in the Gaoming District of Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China. The prison was established as Xijiang Mengjiang Laogai Farm in 1958 and took the name of Foshan Prison in 1995. Prisoners once mined ore at the adjacent Fuwan Xijiang Manganese Mine (富湾西江锰矿), where deposits are now exhausted such that prisoner activity now involves industrial production of rattan and wool goods.
Lianping Prison is a prison in Guangdong province, China, situated in Zhongxin town, Lianping County. It was established as Huiyang Region Liantang Laogai Farm in 1972. It is a large-scale prison where prisoners work in the nearby Lianping Prison Tea Manufacturing Plant (连平监狱制茶厂).
The Laogai Research Foundation is a human rights NGO located in Washington, D.C, United States. The foundation's mission is to "gather information on and raise public awareness of the Laogai—China's extensive system of forced-labor prison camps."
The Laogai Museum is a museum in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C., United States, which showcases human rights in the People's Republic of China, focusing particularly on the Láogǎi, the Chinese prison system of "Reform through Labor". The creation of the museum was spearheaded by Harry Wu, a well-known Chinese dissident who himself served 19 years in laogai prisons; it was supported by the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund. It opened to the public on 12 November 2008, and Wu's non-profit research organization calls it the first museum in the United States to directly address the issue of human rights in China.
