A prison in northeastern China has been at the center of a media storm as news organizations throughout China have been carrying stories about misdeeds at the institution.
The Shanghai-based news website The Paper got things started on Jan. 20 with a report about a prisoner’s sex scandal at Nehe Prison in Heilongjiang Province, which was then picked up by other media.
The prisoner, named Wang Dong, used the Chinese messaging application WeChat to get to know women on the internet, gain their trust, form love relationships with them, and then cheat them out of their money, according to the Paper.
An anonymous insider at the Prison revealed that at least seven females maintained stable love relationships with Wang, three of them gave them money, and two of them are married to other men.
One of Wang’s mistresses transferred 80,000 yuan (US$12,788) to Wang’s bank account, after Wang introduced her to an “investment project.” Prison guards then withdrew the money for Wang and brought it to him to use in prison, the report says.
One of Wang’s mistresses even had sexual relations with him during a visit to the prison, which was then discovered and stopped by prison guards.
Wang finally went too far when he blackmailed a policeman, the husband of a mistress named Li Li (a pseudonym).
Wang took a screenshot of Li Li naked when they once video chatted, and used the photo to extort her husband.
Unable to bear the harassment from Wang, Li Li’s husband reported the case to authorities last November, the report says.
A document obtained by The Paper shows that four supervisors and two guards at the prison were punished due to Wang’s case.
