Prosecutors strengthen supervision over reduced sentences

China's top prosecuting body has announced new measures to try to eliminate judicial corruption in granting parole or shortening prison terms.

As part of the new procedures, prosecutors are being told to launch full-scale investigations into a person's background if their sentence is reduced significantly or they are granted long-term parole.

The idea is to crack down on the rich and powerful using their connections to lighten the penalties against them.

Zhang Bencai is the spokesperson of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

"The regulation requires prosecuting organs investigate and verify cases that criminals ask for a reduced sentence for making contributions. It also regulates that prosecutors attend parole hearings or sentence reduction hearings for the first time."

At the same time, prosecutors are also calling for a revision to the laws which allow certain inmates to serve their sentence outside prison for medical reasons.

Prosecutor Yuan Qiguo.

"The current standards for medical leave from prison were published in 1990. We feel they're no longer applicable. We are formulating new standards when it comes to medical-leave applications and the procedures surrounding it. We feel these changes should eliminate the loopholes which allowed people to skirt the system in the past."

The latest figures suggest around 700 prisoners have managed to bribe their way out of prison in recent years.