Domestic violence, a growing woe for Chinese women prisoners

Ah Cheng's life seems miserable. She is skinny, weighing only 25 kg, and can not stand upright as she has been paralyzed since infancy.

But the greatest plague in her life was a abusive husband who treated her like a human punching bag for years. One night in 1995, with a kitchen knife, Ah Cheng killed her sleeping husband and ended up serving life in prison.

Chinese prisons now jail a rising number of women offenders like Ah Cheng, who were victims of domestic violence that retaliated by killing or wounding their husbands or other family members.

"This kind of offense is often a crime of passion," said Dr. Lu Lan, research fellow with Crime Prevention Office of the Ministry of Justice. Most of the women offenders were not predisposed to attack, but when they had had enough, they went wild.

In the women's prison in eastern Shandong Province, where Ah Cheng is serving her sentence, 46.5 percent of the inmates were convicted of violent crimes, mostly felonies like murder. More than 70 percent of the victims were their husbands, children, or other family members, according to the provincial prison authority.

Statistics from Shandong Prison Administration showed the number of female inmates has been ballooning by 26 percent annually since 1997 and that the percentage of offenders jailed for violent crimes is more than 30 percent higher than that in men 's prison.

Two decades ago, if women killed family members, it was due to traditional, repressive practices like arranged or mercenary marriages, said Li Shuying, vice warden head of Shandong Women's Prison. Now it is largely caused by husband's infidelity, physical abuse, and mental torture. OLD BELIEFS; TORTURE AT HOME

Liu is another inmate in Shandong women's prison. As a peasant's wife in rural Shandong, like Ah Cheng, for decades she endured the torture of her husband for having three daughters but no son. Many inhabitants of China's rural regions believe that a sonless family is a disgrace because boys are thought to carry the family line.

Liu's husband desperately wanted a son and became severely abusive. At the age of 70, Liu finally erupted and bludgeoned her husband to death after he beat her. She will now spend the rest of her life in prison. "He had savagely beaten me up for decades, and I just hit him once", Liu told prison wardens, tears trickling down as she revealed the deep scars on her back.

According to a national survey by the All China Women's Federation, as many as one third of women in the country's 270 million households have fallen victim to domestic violence,, contributing to China's annual 100,000 divorces. Researchers at the Federation said among the complaints they have received, many wives reported being brutally beaten, burned with cigarettes, disfigured by acid, and sexually abused.

Zhang Quanguo, a senior research fellow with Shandong Prison Society said the complaints and surveys understate the problem. Many Chinese wives, especially in less permissive rural areas, still believe family strife is better kept from the public. He said some women still hold the patriarchal belief that husbands should have complete authority in a family and the a wife is obliged to accommodate the spouse. This is especially true when women fail to give the family a son.

Zhu Xiaomin, a research fellow with the Shandong Institute of Crime Studies said more than half of women inmates in Shandong did not get education higher than elementary school and about 70 percent of them come from the countryside where traditional beliefs are still prevalent.

"They don't know how to protect themselves, and constant wife- beating twists their minds," Zhu said.

BROKEN HOMES

Prison officials said women in prison, unlike male inmates, cared less about their career or future upon release, though they frequently miss their family.

Women who are imprisoned as a result of family violence are most concerned about their families, said Xue Yanqin, the psychotherapist in Shandong women's prison.

In a survey conducted in Shandong women's prison last year, about 55 percent of the 792 polled inmates said they greatly regretted what they did. About 403 of them said they felt sorry for their children and 428 inmates said they let down their parents.

However, statistics show even if they repent, they are rarely forgiven by their families. "It is never easy to ask forgiveness from the people you hurt, especially when we are talking about murder and other violent crimes," Xue said.

Li Shuying, the vice warden head, said about 70 percent of the inmates at Shandong women's prison are aged 25 to 45, and over 75 percent of them are mothers. "It is the time when a family needs them most, she said. But most families keep the children far away from their criminal mothers, and this forced separation generally lasts long after her release from prison," Li added.

Ah Cheng and many other inmates are still trying hard to get a sentence reduction and an early reunion with their family. "But I am worried," Li said, watching Ah Cheng stagger away on her twisted legs. "How will one tell her daughter that the woman here was the one who killed your dad, and now she wants to be with you. "

Source: Xinhua