Cramped and filthy cells for Crown’s executives in China jail

Crown’s executives detained in China would most likely be facing cramped jail conditions.

Crown’s executives detained in China would most likely be facing cramped conditions, sharing a jail cell with up to 14 other inmates each and being forced to wash in cold water out of a bucket.

Chinese jail and detention centre facilities are notorious for their poor conditions, including filthy squat toilets, which have prompted international diplomats to raise concerns during regular human rights dialogues.

Most of the 18 Crown executives who were arrested in late-night raids in Shanghai and Chengdu, in the Sichuan province, are being held after they were yesterday charged with gambling-related crimes.

However, the Chinese judicial system is notoriously slow and opaque and the group could be waiting months before they are able to answer the charges in court.

Criminal trials in China often last only one day, with the verdict predetermined in backroom deals before the hearing begins.

There is also often a lengthy delay between the court hearing, which is held in Mandarin with an English-language translator, and the verdict being delivered.

Dual New Zealand and Australian citizen Peter Gardner has been in jail for at least two years after he was caught trying to leave China in 2014 with up to $25 million-worth of methamphetamine.

Mr Gardner’s trial took place in May last year but a Guangzhou court has yet to deliver a sentence, which could deliver him the death penalty because of the quantity of drugs he was allegedly carrying.

Australian man Carl Mather was released from a Nanjing prison in May 2013 after he served six months’ jail for assaulting with a knife a Chinese man who was allegedly harassing his wife.

Mr Mather said Chinese prison conditions were appalling with 15 men sharing a cell that he estimated to be 6m x 3m and constantly lit with fluorescent lighting.

“I remember it vividly,” Mr Mather told The Australian. “There was a sleeping platform in the cell where everyone had to sleep, so you took turns.

“They made people stand up against the side of the wall for two hours at a time where the only thing you could do was to watch the people whose turn it was to sleep.”

Mr Mather said the Chinese prison guards deliberately kept inmates awake in spite of the unhealthy conditions. “You never got enough sleep in the place ... that was part of the torture,” Mr Mather said.

“The lights were constantly on, they were never switched off and the noise was unbelievable. The television would be turned up to full volume and people would scream at each other, day and night.”

Mr Mather said the 14 other men he shared the cell with all washed out of a bucket and used the same squat toilet, which was out in the open in the cell. “Once a week you would have hot water until they decided you couldn’t have hot water,” he said.

Mr Mather’s wife, Jenny, paid jail officials extra money to allow her husband to have extra food portions each week and more bedding to reduce the discomfort.

The prisoners were fed rice and oil three times a day.

Mr Mather and his family left China in September 2013 and they now operate a permaculture farm in New Zealand’s north.