Is a guardhouse the same as a prison?

The guardhouse is not the same as the prison. A detention center is an institution for detaining criminal suspects who have been arrested and criminally detained in accordance with the law. If a criminal who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment has less than three months remaining to serve before he or she is committed to execute the sentence, the detention center will serve the sentence on his or her behalf. The task of a detention center is to provide armed guarding and security for criminal suspects in custody in accordance with national law. Prisons are the State's organs for the enforcement of sentences. Criminals sentenced to death penalty suspended for two years, life imprisonment, or fixed-term imprisonment are executed in prisons.

The punitive function of prisons refers to the sum of the psychologically painful effects produced by the state by placing the body and mind of the condemned person under conditions of punishment and by restricting his or her mental and material life. The reform function of prison is the sum of the educational effect of the prison based on the purpose of punishment to change the criminal mind of the offender and train him to become law-abiding.

Legal Basis: Article 39 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China

Defense lawyers may meet and correspond with criminal suspects and defendants in custody. Other defenders may also meet and correspond with criminal suspects and defendants in custody with the permission of the people's court or people's procuratorate.

Where a defense attorney holds a lawyer's practice certificate, a certificate from a law firm and a power of attorney or an official letter of legal aid requesting a meeting with a criminal suspect or defendant in custody, the detention center shall promptly arrange for the meeting, which shall last no more than forty-eight hours at the latest.

Crimes against national security, terrorist activities, during the investigation of defense lawyers to meet with the detained criminal suspects, shall be permitted by the investigating authorities. In the above cases, the investigating authority shall notify the detention center in advance.

Defense lawyers may meet with the suspect or defendant in custody to learn about the case and provide legal advice; they may also verify the evidence with the suspect or defendant from the date of transfer of the case for examination and prosecution. A defense lawyer's meeting with a criminal suspect or defendant is not subject to wiretapping.

Defense lawyers meeting and communicating with criminal suspects and defendants under residential surveillance shall be subject to the provisions of paragraphs 1, 3 and 4.