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Chinese prisoners are reportedly able to get their sentences reduced by inventing new machines… or so the Shanghai Daily would have us believe.

A car thief saw his life term cut to 12 years after he invented an anti-theft device for cars, while other prisoners have seen their sentences reduced for inventing washing machines and rice cleaning devices. “To date, 132 projects have won prizes at different science and technology competitions and the winners without exception were convicts,” said prison officer Xie Xiaoming who is in charge of the program.

The overall impression is that China’s drive for hi-tech innovation is so all-encompassing and successful that even those in the penal system are benefiting, while being reformed humanely.

“I have been working on a water conversation system, water ecological engineering and fiber sterilization filter network,” said the 54-year-old inmate who was put into prison for fraud. … “I am so grateful to the prison”

So this is to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Full article at Shanghai Daily