Former Shandong Prison Head Sentenced to Prison for Covid-19 Outbreak

Rencheng Prison was one of five prisons hit by the pandemic last year and had the most infections among the five.

Three officials supervising a Shandong prison plagued with a Covid-19 outbreak a year ago that infected 200 inmates were sentenced to 12–27 months in prison for the crime of dereliction of duty.

The three officials are Liu Baoshan, former head of Shandong province’s Rencheng Prison; deputy prison head Deng Tihe; and former Deputy Director of Shandong Prison Administration Wang Wenjie, the Jinan Intermediate Court said on its official WeChat account.

A former prison guard and a driver who worked at the prison during the outbreak were also given 12-month and 16-month prison sentences on probation for obstructing prevention and control of infectious diseases.

The three officials’ dereliction of duty led to the spread of the pandemic in Rencheng Prison, causing great loss to public property, the country and the interests of the people, the court said in issuing the sentences.

Rencheng Prison, located in Jining, an eastern city about 450 miles from the coronavirus epicenter Wuhan, was one of five prisons hit by the pandemic last year and had the most infections among the five. Eight officials, including the head of the Shandong province justice department and the prison chief, were dismissed for failure to control the spread of the deadly virus.

The driver was infected in January 2020 through contact with a person from Wuhan but deliberately failed to report his contact history, according to prosecutors. The former guard also didn’t report symptoms of infection.

Caixin learned that two prison guards had fever as early as Feb. 6, but the prison chief allowed them to go home. One of them was later confirmed with infection.

In addition to Rencheng Prison, four other prisons in Zhejiang and Hubei provinces found infections among inmates and guards, with a total of more than 550 confirmed cases.

The outbreak in prisons exposed loopholes and irresponsibility in the justice departments and prison administration bureaus, the Ministry of Justice said.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com).

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